‘Color Purple’ struggles at the box office after its big Christmas opening

‘The Color Purple’, a new musical version of Alice Walker’s historical novel, seemed to become an instant hit.

Flush in critical exuberance, the film rolled into theaters on Christmas Day and sold more than $18 million in tickets, a near record for the holiday. Audiences gave it an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls. Oprah Winfrey, who co-produced the film with Steven Spielberg, celebrated on Instagram. “I am overwhelmed with gratitude” she wroteand added: “The fact that you all buy tickets, dress in purple and show up en masse gives me satisfaction.”

But the hissing has turned into a sputtering sound.

“The Color Purple,” which Warner Bros. cost at least $90 million to make and another $40 million to market, grossed an estimated $4.8 million this weekend from 3,218 theaters in the United States and Canada, according to Comscore, which compiles the box office . facts. It was only enough for seventh place, behind George Clooney’s “The Boys in the Boat” — a period drama that also opened on Christmas Day — even though “The Boys in the Boat” had only 2,687 theaters.

What happened?

In Hollywood parlance, the film has not gone beyond a “special audience.” To put it more honestly, “The Color Purple,” enthusiastically received by black moviegoers, needs more white, Hispanic and Asian ticket buyers to give it a chance. According to PostTrak, the opening weekend audience was 65 percent black, 19 percent white, 8 percent Hispanic and about 5 percent Asian. PostTrak provides studios with demographic information about ticket buyers.

Warner Bros. has not given up hope.

“I think the jury will be out for several weeks as people talk to their friends about what films they saw and enjoyed – what moved and uplifted them – and the film continues to be honored by award groups,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner’s president of domestic distribution.

“What we know about the older audience is that they don’t rush to the cinema,” he added.

In total, “The Color Purple” has now raked in about $55 million, with the group’s pre-sales contributing to the big Christmas Day result. (Theatres and studios split ticket sales roughly 50-50.) The film will roll out overseas on January 18.

In a promising sign for the film’s box office, more white and Hispanic moviegoers came out in recent days. According to PostTrak data, the film’s demographic breakdown in its second weekend was 47 percent black, 39 percent white, 10 percent Hispanic and less than 4 percent Asian.

As Mr. Goldstein said, “The Color Purple,” starring Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks and Colman Domingo, could also benefit from the attention the award is receiving. Two of the film’s actresses, Ms. Barrino and Ms. Brooks, have been nominated for awards at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards. (In what was seen as a snub, Globe voters did not nominate “The Color Purple” for best picture, musical or comedy.) Oscar nominations will be announced on January 23.

‘The color purple’ has always been seen as a question mark by box office analysts. Ms. Winfrey continues to attract enormous attention — when she announced in mid-December that she had started taking a drug to control her weight, the world seemed to stop turning, at least for a few seconds. But she doesn’t appear in the film.

Warner Bros. supported the film with a jubilant marketing campaign that emphasized uplifting imagery. The film itself opens with a rousing production number in which at least forty people wear their Sunday best and dance in formation while singing about making a “joyful sound.” The ending of the film is also remarkably uplifting.

But much of the material in between is difficult. The main character, Celie, lives in poverty in rural Georgia in the early decades of the twentieth century and must survive after being repeatedly raped by a man she believes is her father. He forces her to give away her newborn children and later marry a man who beats her severely and treats her as his housekeeper.

Some box office analysts wonder whether the story is exaggerated. Ms. Walker’s best-selling and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, published in 1982, has already spawned a major motion picture (Mr. Spielberg’s 1985 adaptation starring Whoopi Goldberg and, in an Oscar-nominated turn, Ms. Winfrey) and two successful Broadway productions. Musicals can also be hard to sell, and Warner Bros. currently has two on the market. “Wonka,” starring a singing Timothée Chalamet, hit No. 1 this weekend, collecting about $14.4 million for a new domestic total of $165 million ($466 worldwide).

The only new film to receive a wide release, “Night Swim,” a low-budget horror film from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse, finished in second place and sold an estimated $12 million in tickets.