“The Color Purple,” Starring Colman Domingo, Tops Box Office on Christmas Day

It’s a Purple reign for Colman Domingo this Christmas

The Color Purple, a vibrant adaptation of the book-turned-beloved-film-turned-hit-Broadway-musical and starring the 54-year-old Belizean-Guatemalan American actor and social justice activist, dominated at the box office on Christmas Day.

Colman Domingo,The film has outperformed expectations with $18 million from 3,152 North American theaters. It’s the largest Christmas Day opening for a film since 2009, and the second-biggest Christmas Day opening of all time.

Those ticket sales were enough to lead the way on Monday ahead of two other newcomers, Neon’s racing drama Ferrari and director George Clooney’s inspirational sports story The Boys in the Boat.

Boosted by positive reviews and a glowing “A” CinemaScore, The Color Purple marks the first musical in some time that’s resonated at the box office. The film, backed by Warner Bros. and directed by Blitz Bazawule, collected more in a single day than recent stage-to-screen stories — including West Side Story ($10.5 million), In the Heights ($11 million), Dear Evan Hansen ($7.5 million) and Cats ($6.6 million) — earned in their opening weekends.

The Color Purple benefitted by premiering on Christmas Day, one of the most popular days of the year for moviegoing. But this is a promising start for the $100 million-budgeted musical, which should benefit from word of mouth in the coming days.

“The Color Purple” looks to remain the de facto choice for families over the remainder of what has otherwise been a lackluster holiday season. American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino brings to life the trials, tribulations and triumphs of Celie, a Black woman living in Georgia in the early 1900s. Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Domingo as  Albert “Mister” Johnson, and Halle Bailey round out the cast.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Starring Isaac, Breaks Box Office Records

The Force has proven to be strong for Oscar Isaac

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, starring the 36-year-old Guatemalan and Cuban American actor as Resistance fighter Poe Dameron, broke every major opening record at the box office.

Oscar Isaac in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The film, which introduced Isaac, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega as new heroes in a galaxy far, far away, tallied $238 million for the weekend, according to studio estimates. It destroys the record of $208.8 million set in June by Jurassic World.

“We’re in territory that we’ve never seen in December,” says Rentrak senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “The enormity of this record-breaking weekend cannot be overstated. This is a true watershed event.

Even more impressive: The Force Awakens annihilated the opening-day and all-time Friday records with $120.5 million, helped by a monster $57 million in Thursday night previews. It breaks the $91.1 million mark set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 in 2011, and the new Star Wars is the first movie to surpass $100 million in a single day.

It also set a new high for highest theater average with $57,500 in 4,134 theaters, and posted an extra $279 million internationally (except for China, where it will open in January) for a $517 million global debut.

The blockbuster was buoyed by universal raves: Critics heaped praise — a 95% “fresh” rating on RottenTomatoes.com — and audiences gave it an A at CinemaScore. Add to that acclaim Disney’s “pitch-perfect” marketing, word of mouth through social media, great casting and repeat viewings, and everything came together for an “unprecedented” opening, Dergarabedian says. “If any of those had not been firing properly, you would not be seeing these numbers. The brand can get you really far, but the movie itself had to deliver.

Final figures are expected Monday.

Diaz’s “The Other Woman” Takes Down Captain America at the Box Office

Cameron Diaz is a Woman on top…

Fox‘s comedy The Other Woman, starring the 41-year-old half-Cuban American actress, dominated the final weekend before the official start of the summer box office, registering a strong $24.7 million debut from 3,205 theaters after a long dry spell for femme-fueled fare.

The Other Woman

Other Woman — teaming Diaz opposite Leslie Mann and Kate Upton — unseated Captain America: The Winter Soldier from the top spot at the North American box office after it dominated the chart for three consecutive weekends.

Overseas, the comedy took in $12.8 million from 31 markets for an early total of $20.6 million and global cume of $45.3 million.

Sony‘s The Amazing Spider-Man 2was the big winner internationally, where it is opening ahead of its May 2 North American launch, amassing $67.2 million over the weekend for an early total of $132 million (Other Woman did narrowly beat the superhero movie in Australia, however, grossing $4.1 million).

Directed by Nick Cassavetes, Other Woman is a win for Diaz and could bode well for Sony’s July comedy Sex Tape, in which she stars opposite Jason Segel.

Other Woman stars Diaz, Mann and Upton as three jilted women determined to expose a philandering husband. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Nicki Minaj and Taylor Kinney also star in the $40 million movie, which earned a B+ CinemaScore. Females made up a whopping 75 percent of the audience, while 65 percent of ticket buyers were over the age of 25. Roughly 44 percent were between the ages of 18 to 24, a healthy showing.

“The combination of the three actresses and a fun movie really struck a chord,” said Fox senior vice president of domestic distribution Spencer Klein. 

Here are the top 10 estimates for the weekend of April 25-27 at the domestic box office:

Title, Weeks in Release/Theater Count, Studio, Weekend Total, Percentage Drop, Cume

1. The Other Woman, 1/3,205, Fox, $24.7 million.
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 4/3,620, Disney/Marvel, $16 million, -37%, $224.9 million.
3. Heaven Is for Real, 2/2,705 Sony/TriStar, $13.8 million, -39%, $51.9 million.
4. Rio 2, 3/3,703, Fox/Blue Sky, $13.7 million, -38%, $96.2 million.
5. Brick Mansions, 1/2,647, Relativity/EuropaCorp, $9.6 million.
6. Transcendence, 2/3,455, Warner Bros./Alcon, $4.1 million, -62%, $18.5 million.
7. The Quiet Ones, 1/2,027, Lionsgate/Exclusive, $4 million.
8. Divergent, 6/2,066, Lionsgate/Summit, $3.6 million, -25%, $139.5 million.
9. Bears, 2/1,720, Disney, $3.6 million, -36%, $11.2 million.
10. A Haunted House 2, 2/2,310, Open Road/IM Global, $3.3 million, -63%, $14.2 million.

Derbez’s “Instructions Not Included” Makes U.S. Box Office History

Sure, he may be a star in Mexico… But Eugenio Derbez is now making box office history in the United States…

The 52-year-old Mexican actor’s latest film Instructions Not Included, released by Pantelion Films, has become the highest grossing Spanish Language film ever released in the U.S., according to the film’s distributor Lionsgate.

Instructions Not Included

With this weekend’s box office estimate of $3.38 million, the breakout family dramedy has earned $38.567M in its fifth weekend at the American box office.

Starring and directed by Derbez, the film has surpassed Pan’s Labyrinth’s $37.6M to become the new record holder.

It’s also the fourth biggest grossing foreign language film ever in the U.S., behind only Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Taiwan), Life is Beautiful (Italy) and Hero (China).

Word of mouth spread for Instructions Not Included due to a strong ‘A+’ CinemaScore, and the film expanded its U.S. run to target crossover audiences.

Made for only $5M, the film centers on a man (Derbez) who has made a new life for himself and the daughter left on his doorstep six years ago. His family life finds is threatened when the birth mother resurfaces.

The film was the big story coming out of Labor Day weekend for the best-ever domestic debut for a Spanish language film.