The color purple bowed Monday ahead of the second-biggest holiday opening of all time.
The new adaptation of the popular book/Broadway musical grossed $18 million in 3,152 North American theaters and dominated the box office. It's the biggest Christmas opening for a film since 2009's “Sherlock Holmes” (which grossed $24.6 million).
Everett Collection
The color purple outperformed two other new releases: George Clooney's sports drama “The Boys in the Boat” and the racing film “Ferrari”. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom came in second with $10.5 million from 3,706 venues, while Wonka came in third with $10.3 million from 4,213 venues.
The new adaptation of The Color Purple, starring American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo and Halle Bailey, tells the story of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel, first published on the brought to the big screen by Steven Spielberg in 1985, who introduced Whoopi Goldberg to the world and earned Oprah Winfrey an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Since then, the novel has been reinvented on stage as a musical, receiving eleven Tony nominations in 2006 and a successful revival in 2015.
Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, movie reviews and more.
Related content: