Excellence In Black: The Color Purple Rakes In $18 Million In First Day Sales.

We knew The Color Purple would do GREAT numbers once it debuted on the big screen, but the new adaptation of the hit book and Broadway play has brought home an even bigger prize. On Christmas day, the star-studded film raked in a WHOPPING 18 Million dollars in its single-day opening.

In addition, the highly anticipated movie is now the second-biggest Christmas Day opening of all time!

According to NBC News:

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. Of course, “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.

We got a chance to see the movie before it’s debut and were blown away by the ENTIRE cast. I mean, how could it NOT be amazing with such stellar talent including Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, H.E.R. (who is a musical genius) and Halle Bailey (who was the best Little Mermaid Ever).

We do not doubt that those numbers will rise (it’s currently at a weekend total of 25 Million), and if you haven’t seen it, RUN TO THEATER!