Color Purple beats Aquaman 2 at box office on Christmas Day – The Hollywood Reporter

From left: Taraji P. Henson, Fantasia Barrino, and Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

Violet Bringing some much-needed cheer to the year-end holiday box office.

The musical — whose producers include Oprah and Steven Spielberg — opened to $18.1 million in 3,142 theaters on Monday, the second best ever for a film opening on Christmas Day and the best since 2009. Colman Domingo stars in the retelling Blitz Bazawule from Alice Walker’s beloved novel, adapted from the Tony Award-winning Broadway show.

The record holder for the largest opening on Christmas Day dates back to 2009 Sherlock Holmes ($24.6 million), not adjusted for inflation.

A film directed by George Clooney Boys in the boat, another film that opened on Christmas Day, performed significantly better than expected with $5.7 million from 2,557 locations. The adult drama has joined MGM and Amazon, starring Joel Edgerton and Callum Turner Violet Get CinemaScore. Michael Mann Ferrariwhich also opened on December 25, earned $2.9 million from 2,330 locations after earning a B CinemaScore.

while Violet He easily beat James Wan Aquaman and the Lost KingdomMonday’s total was $10.6 million, Aquaman 2 It is the overall winner of the Christmas long weekend with a four-day opening of $38.3 million from 3,706 theaters domestically. But the superhero sequel — which was also slapped with a meh B CinemaScore — doesn’t have much to brag about after posting one of the lowest starts in the history of the DC Cinematic Universe. The Jason Momoa-led superhero sequel did even better overseas with $80.1 million from 72 markets, with the bulk, or $30.4 million, coming from China.

In 2018, the first Aquaman It was the king of the year-end holiday when it swam to a three-day opening of $67.9 million over the weekend of December 21-23. During Christmas Day, which fell on a Tuesday of that year, its domestic tally reached $105.4 million (it earned $22 million on December 25). The film went on to earn $335.1 million domestically and $1.15 billion worldwide, the best showing ever for a DCEU title, not adjusted for inflation.

Wan’s film lends more credence to the theory of superhero fatigue. Aquaman 2The film’s opening tracks the recent start of its $46.1 million box office disaster Wonders From competing Marvel Studios.

This year’s box office Christmas has been a mixed blessing. Four-day weekend revenue was up 11 percent over the same period in 2022, but down 46 percent from 2019, which was considered a key benchmark before the pandemic. Revenues for the three-day weekend (December 22-24) were up 1 percent from 2022, but down 62 percent from 2022. Making year-over-year comparisons can be difficult when it comes to the year-end holiday, given Because December 25 is a moving target.

Warners certainly dominated the holiday marquee this year, Ben Aquaman 2, Wonka (also a musical), and Violet.

Wonka, which opened the weekend before the holiday, ranked second on the four-day holiday chart with $28.4 million from 4,213 locations for a domestic cume of $85.9 million. The Timothée Chalamet-led film is impressing overseas, earning $171.3 million so far, for a global total of $257.2 million as of Monday. Wonka And Violet It proves that musicals may not be an endangered species after all, and that’s no small feat Violet It ranked third on the holiday chart considering it only played one day.

Illumination and Universal’s family motion picture were at No. 4 on the chart for four days Immigration. The tentpole announces a four-day opening of $17.5 million, the lowest start in Illumination’s history. The film is doing muted business so far overseas, with foreign grosses expected to reach $22 million from 43 markets through Sunday.

Final verdict on Immigration It will not be released until New Year’s weekend, as there is no more lucrative stretch of the year for a film than the week between Christmas and New Year’s. However, Disney was upset when… he wishes It posted a five-day start of $32.5 million over Thanksgiving last month.

As with superhero films, there is concern throughout Hollywood about the theatrical animated market.

Columbia/Sony Thriller romantic comedy Anyone but you Reveal finished in fifth place with an estimated $8 million from 3,055 theaters for the four days. The new pic, starring Sidney Sweeney and Glen Powell, received a B+ CinemaScore. (No studio likes anything other than some A-grade variation of most movies.)

Females accounted for nearly 80 percent of all patrons purchasing tickets to watch Anyone but youwhile males accounted for at least 66 percent of A24’s Zac Efron-led wrestling drama. Iron clawwhich ranked sixth with better-than-expected revenues of $6.8 million from 2,774 theaters.

At the specialty box office, Searchlight Pictures opened with the popular Andrew Haigh film We are all strangers In four locations in New York and Los Angeles. The awards contender is looking for an estimated $36,000 four-day average, the highest of any film on the Christmas weekend chart.