Taraji P. Henson stars in Warner Bros. “The Color Purple.”
Warner Bros. Uncovering
It was a very Merry Christmas for Warner Bros. Discovery.
With $18.15 million in box office receipts, the studio’s newest cloud “The Color Purple” had the highest Christmas Day opening since 2009 and the second-largest Christmas Day opening of all time.
The film outpaced 2012’s “Les Misérables,” which snagged $18.1 million on its Christmas introduction, and fell just short of the 2009 holiday opening of “Sherlock Holmes” at $24.6 million, according to data from Comscore.
Top Christmas day openers at the tame box office
- “Sherlock Holmes” (2009) — $24.6 million
- “The Color Purple” (2023) — $18.15 million
- “Les Misérables” (2012) — $18.1 million
- “Daddy’s Deeply” (2015) — $15.7 million
- “Unbroken” (2014) — $15.4 million
- “Into the Woods” (2014) — $15.08 million
- “Django Unchained” (2012) — $15.01 million
- “Marley and Me” (2008) — $14.3 million
Provenance: Comscore
Adding ticket sales from “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” and “Wonka,” Warner Bros. Discovery look oned the top three spots at the box office over the holiday.
Warner Bros.’ collection of December releases runs the spectrum of sorts and demographics, offering a diverse slate of entertainment for almost every moviegoing audience.
“The lineup … reflects a perfectly orchestrated jolted release of these titles over the course [of] the all-important holiday frame, and the results are most impressive,” said Paul Dergarabedian, older media analyst at Comscore.
“The Color Purple,” whose producers include Oprah and Steven Spielberg, is based on the Broadway dulcet adaptation of the book-turned-movie of the same name.
The film caters to an older audience, who have been reluctant to return to cinemas in the wake of the pandemic.