‘The Color Purple’ Scores Best Christmas Day Opening Since 2009 With $18.1 Million
As predicted, it was a podium sweep for Warner Bros. at the Christmas Day box office, with the studio’s new release “The Color Purple” leading the Dec. 25 charts with $18.1 million, scoring the second-highest Christmas Day opening in box office history behind only the $24.6 million opening of “Sherlock Holmes” in 2009.
It’s a much-needed comeback for movie musicals as “The Color Purple” outgrossed the opening weekends of “In the Heights” and “West Side Story,” two musicals released in 2021 during the pandemic reopening period that were critically acclaimed but flopped theatrically. Now, with older audiences who stayed home back then over COVID concerns returning to theaters, “The Color Purple” is planting the seeds for a long, fruitful theatrical run over the next month and possibly longer.
As expected, Black audiences were the overwhelming majority of the audience for “Color Purple” on Monday, accounting for 65% of the demographic breakdown. Audiences over 55, an age demo that was critical for “West Side Story” and stayed home when that film came out during an infection rate surge in December 2021, accounted for 25% of the opening day audience for “Color Purple.”
Most importantly, buzz from early audiences is incredibly strong with an A on CinemaScore, 5/5 on PostTrak and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 89% critics and 94% audience. Over the coming week and beyond, Warner Bros. will look for “Color Purple” to use that word-of-mouth to raise interest beyond Black audiences to leg out into January, when the film might get some awards buzz from the Golden Globes ceremony and Oscar nominations announcement.
Warner’s other two holiday releases, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” and “Wonka,” came in second and third with $10.5 million and $10.3 million on Monday, respectively.
Of the three films, “Aquaman 2” has the dimmest outlook with the lowest CinemaScore and PostTrak returns among them as it earned a $38 million four-day domestic opening, lower than the $47 million three-day opening of “The Marvels” last month.
With a $200 million-plus budget, “Aquaman 2” is looking like it will be another DC misfire in a year that has already had three of them, with the only bright spot being the film’s $30 million opening in China with a 9/10 score on Maoyan. In a market where Chinese audiences have largely abandoned Hollywood films, that’s enough to make “Aquaman 2” the highest superhero opening of the year in that country, as the film has a running global total of approximately $118 million.
“Wonka” is holding better in its second weekend in theaters, standing at $85 million domestic and $255 million worldwide against a reported $125 million budget.
While there’s competition for family attention from Illumination’s “Migration” — which is opening to a soft $17.8 million over four days — “Wonka” is holding well with strong audience reception. And while its musical elements weren’t marketed as prominently as with “The Color Purple,” it’s another sign of how movie musicals, with the right subject matter and a recognizable cast, can still sell tickets.
Farther down the charts, other Christmas Day releases include Amazon MGM’s “The Boys in the Boat,” which earned $5.7 million on Monday from 2,557 theaters. Directed by George Clooney, the film about the gold medal-winning 1936 American Olympic rowing team got mixed reviews with a 56% Rotten Tomatoes score but has earned an A on CinemaScore and 69% “definite recommend” on PostTrak. Audiences skewed older with 68% over 35 and 38% over 55.
Bringing up the rear is Neon’s “Ferrari” with an estimated $2.8 million from 2,325 theaters. Directed by Michael Mann and starring Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari, the film has earned mostly positive reviews with a 76% Rotten Tomatoes score, but is getting left behind by the competition.
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