Universal is bringing Ryan Coogler’s Oscar-winning juke joint to life.
If you thought Sinners was scary on a movie screen, wait until you are walking through it.
Universal has announced that Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s record-breaking vampire film set in 1930s Mississippi, is coming to Halloween Horror Nights at both Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando Resort this fall. And from the way Universal’s creative team is talking about it, this is not a standard walk-through with some spooky decorations and jump scares. They are calling it a full reinvention of what a haunted house can be.
Guests will step inside Club Juke, the Delta juke joint at the heart of the film, right as things go wrong. Remmick and his vampire crew show up hungry, characters from the film appear throughout, and the battle between twins Smoke and Stack plays out all around you. The only objective is making it out alive.
“Its world, characters and intensity will translate into a relentless haunted house,” said Mike Aiello of Universal Orlando. John Murdy at Universal Hollywood took it a step further, saying the team is using Sinners as inspiration to create “new ways to scare guests that we’ve never attempted.” That is a bold claim from an event that has been running for 35 years.
The producers of the film are equally locked in. Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian said in a joint statement that the partnership gives fans “the chance to step even deeper into the world of the film, to feel the music, the atmosphere and the tension all around them.”
It makes sense that Sinners would find its way here. The film grossed $370 million worldwide, earned a record 16 Oscar nominations, won four including Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan, and genuinely shifted the conversation around what a vampire film could be. Taking it off the screen and putting guests inside it feels like the natural next move.
Halloween Horror Nights opens August 28 at Universal Orlando for its 35th year and September 3 at Universal Studios Hollywood. Tickets are on sale now.