After a lot of anticipation, The Color Purple finally hit the theatres on December 25, and its opening day was one for the books! The adaptation of the popular Broadway musical grossed $18.2 million domestically, scoring the second-biggest Christmas Day opening ever.
The Color Purple was projected to gross around $8–10 million on its first day, but it exceeded everyone’s wildest expectations. With $18.2 million grossed domestically, this film easily soared to the top of the Christmas box office and set several major records along the way.
This marks the largest Christmas Day opening for a movie since Sherlock Holmes, which brought in $24.6 million in 2009. It also scored the highest-grossing post-pandemic domestic opening day for a musical, surpassing Wonka, which made $14.4 million on its first day in North American theatres.
The Color Purple is the latest take on Alice Walker’s iconic novel, and it draws inspiration from the hit Broadway musical of the same name. It chronicles the journey of Celie Harris-Johnson, an African-American woman living in the South during the early 1900s.
Fantasia Barrino plays Celie, while the film’s star-studded supporting cast includes Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey, Ciara, Jon Batiste, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.
