On this morning’s Crew Call, we talk with The Color Purple producers Oprah Winfrey and Scott Sanders on blazing a path for their Broadway musical to the big screen.
26.12.2023 - 16:39 / variety.com
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Color Purple,” a vibrant adaptation of the book-turned-beloved-movie-turned-hit-Broadway-musical, dominated at the box office on Christmas Day. 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 story “The Boys in the Boat.” Warner Bros. impressively held the top three spots on domestic charts as “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” and “Wonka” swam to second and third place, respectively. 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 releasing 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 the South in
.On this morning’s Crew Call, we talk with The Color Purple producers Oprah Winfrey and Scott Sanders on blazing a path for their Broadway musical to the big screen.
The sisterhood between Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks began on Broadway. That is, the sisterhood of the order of The Color Purple. Both women starred on stage in the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s 1982 Pulitzer-prize winning novel. Barrino spent 10 months in 2007 playing Celie, the poor country girl who survives an abusive step-father and husband and realizes her worth.
every week is Cake Week at Project Cakery, her in-demand small business on the edge of England’s elite Cotswolds region.So when a stranger contacted her out of the blue asking for 3 10-inch cakes to celebrate the 61st birthday of somebody named George, she considered turning down the gig. “It was short notice and a lot of pressure because I already had r — I shouldn’t really have said yes,” the frazzled flour flogger, 22, told SWNS.The background to the stranger’s simple, “subtle” request, Tait said, was that there was a film being made in the area, and the director’s birthday was coming up.
“Satire is a dangerous game In Hollywood,” Billy Wilder once observed. “It invites self-immolation.” Still, the satiric spirit looms large in many of this year’s buzzworthy movies: American Fiction, Poor Things, Saltburn, Air, The Holdovers and even Barbie.
EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures International Productions is ramping up two sequels to 2023 German box office hit The Three Investigators – Legacy of the Dragon (Die Drei ??? – Erbe des Drachen). Both adventure mysteries are co-productions from Wiedemann & Berg Film and Deutsche Columbia Pictures Filmproduktion in cooperation with Kosmos Verlag.
during a live Q&A session on Friday with the film’s cast. According to the actress, they also were not given any food. “You corrected it for us,” Brooks told Winfrey, 69, who said she heard about the situation from Henson, 53.
The Color Purple” in 2007 because of trauma from a sexual assault that resurfaced when she took on the role.“That was around the time that my life was so crazy, so it was almost like carrying my cross and Celie’s cross. I didn’t know how to come out of the character,” Barrino, 39, told People.Nevertheless, Barrino reprised her role as Celie — who was also a victim of sexual assault — in “The Color Purple” film, which was released last week.The songstress revealed that she almost didn’t accept the part when director Blitz Bazawule asked her to star in the film.
Fantasia Barrino is sharing how she really felt about playing the lead role of Celie in The Color Purple on Broadway.
The movie The Color Purple is currently in theaters and winning over audiences around the country!
Naman Ramachandran Bollywood A-list actor Ayushmann Khurrana scored another major hit in 2023 with comedy sequel “Dream Girl 2.” But he is still happy to have achieved what he describes as “validation.” The film was one of several medium budget Hindi-language films that became box office successes, including “OMG 2,” “Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway,” “Zara Hatke Zara Bachke,” “Satyaprem Ki Katha” and “12th Fail.” These effectively debunked the notion that only big budget spectacles like “Pathaan” or “Jawan” would work at the post-pandemic Bollywood box office, which had a poor 2022. “There was a conspiracy theory, maybe a year back, that Indian audiences [were] only looking for spectacles or larger-than-life films, but this year, a lot of films, which not really big budget but mid budget, did really well,” Khurrana told Variety.
Oprah Winfrey was part of the original 1985 film cast of The Color Purple, but decided not to make a cameo in the 2023 version in theaters now. If you don’t know, Oprah portrayed the role of Sofia in 1985 and was Oscar nominated for her role. She acted as a producer this go around.
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Color Purple” added $7.1 million on Tuesday, bringing its domestic box office tally to an impressive $25 million after two days of release. The Warner Bros. film, an adaptation of the book-turned-beloved-movie-turned-hit-Broadway-musical, opened in theaters on Monday.
Chris Pratt and wife Katherine Schwarzenegger made it all about family during the holidays this year!
The movie musical The Color Purple opened in theaters on Christmas Day and the film earned the number one spot at the box office, blowing away expectations.
Oprah Winfrey, was even the Queen of Talk.And the very same year, Stephen Bray — executive music producer of the new “Color Purple” movie musical that opens on Christmas Day — scored his first hits with the future Queen of Pop, Madonna, as co-writer of both “Into the Groove” and “Angel.”But Bray and Madonna shared a different kind of rhythmic history even before that — when they were both living in Ann Arbor, Michigan.“I used to play percussion in some of the dance classes that she was in,” Bray told The Post. “And then she moved to New York and was playing drums for [the band] Breakfast Club in ’79.
Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Director Blitz Bazawule had a clear vision of what he wanted Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson) to represent in “The Color Purple.” She was a bold, sexy, beautiful and extraordinary woman, but she was also loving and nurturing to Celie (Fantasia Barrino) and Sophia (Danielle Brooks). “Those were her sisters and there was a bond there,” Tym Wallace, the film’s makeup and hair department artist explains.
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” didn’t give Hollywood much to be merry about at the Christmas box office. The comic book sequel, starring Jason Momoa as the King of Atlantis and directed by James Wan, opened slightly below estimates with $27.7 million over the traditional weekend and a disappointing $40 million through the four-day holiday frame.
Christmas may have landed right at start of the week this year but if you've turned on the TV and jumped to ITV, you may be wondering what the day is and if you have completely skipped over Christmas as some of the network's best-loved shows continue to air.
When Harry Met Sally fans! This Wednesday, Meg Ryan makes a rare TV appearance to honor her WHMS costar, Billy Crystal, when he is feted at the Kennedy Center Honors. The televised ceremony—which always airs during the last week of the year—recognizes artists who have made profound contributions to American culture through the arts.When Harry Met Sally is over 30 years old, but it is arguably the most quoted film in Ryan's and Crystal's movie careers, so it only makes sense that Ryan would want to pay homage to one of the greatest romcoms—and films—of our time.
Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Choreographer Fatima Robinson fused hip-hop, dance, African history, tap, jazz and even Jamaican moves as she crafted the musical numbers in “The Color Purple,” but there was one person in particular whose energy she wanted to capture: Beyoncé. Specifically, the energy of Beyoncé’s “Renaissance.” Director Blitz Bazawule blends Alice Walker’s text and the Broadway musical to reimagine the classic as a vibrant movie musical. “American Idol’s” Fantasia Barrino plays Celie, a woman who slowly finds her voice with Shug Avery’s (Taraji P.