Warner Bros –as mostly expected– wound up owning Christmas with its trifecta of Aquaman 2, Wonka and The Color Purple respectively in the top three spots. Speaking of The Color Purple, it came up big — much bigger than expected on its first day with an estimated $18.15M, A CinemaScore, 5 stars and 92% positive.
Not only was that haul enough for Color Purple to win Christmas Day ahead of Aquaman 2 ($10.6M) and Wonka ($10.3M), but it’s the biggest Christmas Day opening since 2009, and the second biggest Christmas Day opening after Warner Bros’ 2009 Sherlock Holmes ($24.6M). Color Purple also outstrips the first Christmas day of Universal’s feature take on West End/Broadway musical Les Miserables which went on to ultimately make $148.8M. Are musicals dead on the big screen? Absolutely not, they just need to be excellent. The Color Purple cost a reported $90M before P&A.
Aquaman 2 is coming in at $38.3M for the 4-day, under its $40M projection, while Wonka is at $28.35M over Friday-Monday, putting its running total at $85.8M.
Diversity demos on the Oprah Winfrey-Steven Spielberg produced Color Purple were 65% Black, 19% Caucasian, 11% Hispanic and Latino and 2% Asian. We always knew presales were big, especially in the South, with projections for Christmas Day raising from $8M to $10M-$12M. But yesterday was amazing.
Evidence of the movie’s strength in the South can be seen in its top 10 theaters yesterday which were 1. Regal Atlantic Station Atlanta, 2. Marcus Country Club Hills Chicago, 3. AMC Southlake Pavilion Atlanta, 4. Malco Paradiso Cinema Grill Memphis, 5. AMC Parkway Point Atlanta, 6. AMC Hoffman Washington DC, 7. Regal McDonough Atlanta, 8. AMC Camp Creek Atlanta, 9. Cinemark Egyptian Baltimore, and 10. Cinemark Carson Los Angeles
Older folks may have taken a longer time to return to cinemas post Covid, but they came back big with Color Purple‘s largest demo being those over 55 at 25%; they also gave the Blitz Bazawule directed movie its best grades at 97%. Women over 25 turned out at 62% (94% grade), followed by guys over 25 at 21% (86%), women under 25 at 14% (91%) with guys under 25 a far distant at 4% (89%).
With Color Purple over performing, and also two other movies on the chart, Amazon MGM’s The Boys in the Boat ($5.7M) at 2,557 theaters and NEON’s Ferrari ($2.85M) at 2,330 theaters, the 4-day Christmas Box Office woke up with $157.9M, which is +11% from last year’s four-day of $142.8M.
Boys in the Boat gets an A CinemaScore with an 86% positive on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak. 54% Female, 46% Male showed up with 29% of the audience between 18-34 years old. Those over 35 were 66% with 38% of the audience over 55+. Diversity demos were 70% Caucasian, 9% Hispanic and Latino, 7% Black, 6% Asian, 7% NatAm/Other.
Ferrari‘s first day by the way is higher than the Christmas Day opening of Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World back in 2017, which did $2.5M. That Mark Wahlberg-Michelle Williams thriller drama finaled at $25.1M. However that movie cost less than Michael Mann’s here, $50M to $96M. The Adam Driver race car drama gets a B CinemaScore which is the same grade as All the Money in the World.
Ferrari‘s CinemaScore among Mann fare is better than his 2015 feature Blackhat (C-) and the same score as his 2009 Johnny Depp John Dillinger gangster movie, Public Enemies (B). The movie has a more deliberate pace than James Mangold’s Ford v. Ferrari, which boasted more race scenes, and two marquee stars in Christian Bale and Matt Damon, and received an A+.
In PostTrak exits, Ferrari got a 74% positive and 3 1/2 stars. Forty-seven percent were between the ages of 18-34. Those guys over 25 bought tickets at 53% (72% score), followed by women over 25 at 32% (77% grade), 11% men under 25 (liked it the most at 80%), and women under 25 at 4% (who slammed it with a 50% grade). Only a 51% definite recommend. There was a moment when STX (which funded 70% of the movie through foreign presales) was going to put this movie direct to streaming through its Showtime deal; opting not to release it through their Lionsgate output deal, however, they wound up licensing it domestically so that Mann’s dream project would see the light of day on the big screen. There was a run-off between A24 and NEON, with the latter beating out for an estimated $15M+
The chart per Comscore and industry sources:
1.) Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (WB) 3,706 theaters, Fri $13.7M,Sat $9M, Sun $5M Mon $10.6M 3-day $27.7M, 4-day $38.3M/Wk 1
2.) Wonka (WB) 4,213 (+10) theaters, Fri $6.5M (-55%) Sat $7M Sun $4.55M, Mon $10.3M 3-day $18M (-54%), 4-day $28.3M/Total $85.8M/Wk 2
3.) The Color Purple, 3,151 theaters, Mon $18.15M, Day 1
4.) Migration (Ill/Uni) 3,761 theaters, Fri 3-day $5.8M, Sat $4.1M Sun $2.55M Mon $5.3M 3-day $12.4M, 4-day $17.8M, Wk 1
5.) Anyone But You (Sony) 3,055 theaters, Fri $3.4M, Sat. $1.77M Sun $755K Mon $2M 3-day $6M, 4-day $8M, Wk 1
6.) Iron Claw (A24) 2,771 theaters, Fri $2.5M, Sat $1.55M Sun $818K Mon $1.93M 3-day $4.86M, 4-day $6.799M/Wk 1
7.) Salaar Part 1 Ceasefire (Prath) 796 theaters Fri $3.8M, Sat $1M Sun $726K Mon $831K 3-day $5.605M 4-day $6.43M/Wk 1
8.) The Boys in the Boat (AMZ MGM) 2,557 theaters Mon $5.7M, Day 1
9.) Hunger Games: Songbirds & Snakes (LG) 2,509 (-782) theaters, Fri $1.2M (-29%) Sat $1.2M Sun $628K Mon $1.1M 3-day $3.04M (-48%), 4-day $4.1M total $153.4M/Wk 6
10.) Dunki (Yash Raj) 686 theaters, Fri $923K Sat $973K Sun $818K Mon $941K 3-day $2.7M 4-day $3.655M/Total $4.5M/Wk 1
11.) Boy and the Heron (GKIDs) 1,580 (-745) theaters, Fri $995K Sat $1.1M Sun $653K Mon $718K 3-day $2.78M (-50%),4-day $3.5M Total $30.9M/Wk 3
12.) Godzilla Minus One (Toho) 1,985 (-637) theaters, Fri $951K (-29%) Sat $1.1M Sun $561K Mon $718K 3day $2.64M (-48%), 4-day $3.36M Total $40.98M/Wk 4
13) Poor Things (SEA) 800 (+718) theaters Fri $1M (+104%) Sat $698K Sun $409K 3-day $2.1M (+63%), 4-day $2.9M Total $5.87M/Wk 3
14.) Ferrari (NEON) 2,325 theaters, Mon $2.85M/Day 1