There Were Christmas Day Winners, Losers at Box Office

It was a green Christmas for The Color Purple. The film bested expectations with its $18 million opening on Monday, a figure that makes it the second-biggest Christmas Day opening of all time. The Hollywood Reporter says the biggest Christmas Day opener remains 2009's Sherlock Holmes, which brought in $24.6 million (not adjusted for inflation).

Variety reports The Color Purple appears to be reversing the lukewarm welcome that musicals have received at the box office of late, trumping the opening weekend takes of other recent stage-to-screen stories. It cites films like In the Heights ($11 million), Dear Evan Hansen ($7.5 million), and Cats ($6.6 million). Variety called it "a promising start for the $100 million-budgeted musical"—and in contrast to two other Christmas Day players. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom took the second slot on Monday with $10.5 million, but it has made just $38 million as of Christmas; it cost $205 million. Ferrari, Michael Mann's racing film about Enzo Ferrari, raked in just $2.8 million Monday; the Adam Driver-led film cost $95 million. (More box office stories.)