The Color Purple (2023 film)

The Color Purple is a 2023 American musical period drama film directed by Blitz Bazawule, with screenplay by Marcus Gardley based on the stage musical of the same name - which, in turn, is based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker. It is the second film adaptation of the novel, following the 1985 film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Spielberg and Quincy Jones. Spielberg and Jones return as producers for the 2023 film, along with its Broadway producers Scott Sanders and Oprah Winfrey, the latter of whom also starred in the 1985 film.
The film stars Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey, Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, and Fantasia Barrino in her film debut. Brooks and Barrino reprise their roles from the productions of the stage musical. It tells the story of Celie, an African American woman dealing with the hardships of living with an abusive husband and living in the American South during the early 1900s.
The Color Purple premiered in London on November 20, 2023, and was released in the United States on December 25, 2023, by Warner Bros. Pictures. Although it received positive reviews from critics, it performed poorly at the box office grossing $68.8 million against a budget of $90–100 million. Danielle Brooks was lauded for her performance, receiving nominations for the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress. At the 55th NAACP Image Awards, the film won a record-breaking eleven awards out of sixteen nominations, including Outstanding Motion Picture and acting wins for Barrino, Henson, Domingo, and the ensemble cast.
In 1909 Georgia, teenager Celie Harris lives with her sister Nettie and abusive father Alfonso. After her mother died, Alfonso started raping Celie, causing her to become pregnant twice. When Celie gives birth to her second child, Adam, Alfonso takes the child away as he had the first, Olivia. He then forces her to marry a local farmer and father of three, Albert "Mister" Johnson.
When Alfonso tries to molest Nettie, she moves into Mister's farmhouse, but when Nettie rebuffs his sexual advances he banishes her from his land; as she leaves, she promises to write to Celie every day. By 1917, Celie is still married to Mister. His son Harpo marries fierce, defiant Sofia, and builds a house for her. Celie befriends Sofia, but in a moment of jealousy advises Harpo to beat Sofia. Sofia leaves Harpo as a result, and he converts the house into a juke joint.
Independent jazz singer Shug Avery, Mister's longtime lover, comes to town to perform at the joint and stays at Mister's house for a few days. Around the time, Mister's equally abusive father visits. Harpo has been seeing another woman, who he calls "Squeak". When he tries to dance with Sofia, Squeak cuts in and ends up starting a fight that trashes the joint. Escaping the brawl, Shug takes Celie to see a movie; the two kiss at the movie theatre and sleep together that night. In the morning, Shug picks up Mister's mail and finds a letter to Celie from Nettie; the two search the house and discover dozens of other letters from Nettie that Mister hid from Celie. The letters reveal that Nettie has been living in Africa and caring for Adam and Olivia, who were adopted by missionaries.
In 1930, the mayor's wife condescendingly offers Sofia a job as her maid; when Sofia refuses she gets involved in a physical fight, resulting in her arrest. She is released after six years and ends up having to work for the mayor's wife anyway, sinking into a deep depression that seemingly takes away all of her fierceness.
On Easter Sunday in 1943, when Shug and her new husband Grady are visiting, Celie confronts Mister in front of his father and their family. She leaves him and moves to Memphis with Shug. Squeak, whose real name is Mary Agnes, goes with them, inspiring Sofia out of her stupor. Celie vows to Mister that until he does right by her, everything in his life will crumble.
In 1945, when Alfonso dies, his wife reveals to Celie that he was not Celie or Nettie's biological father, and the sisters now own the grocery store and the home they were brought up in. Celie moves back to Georgia and becomes a tailor, selling pants in the former grocery store. Meanwhile, Mister has become a miserable drunk. He vows to do right by Celie and plots to reunite Celie and Nettie, selling some of his land to pay for Nettie to return from Africa. Later he visits her shop and buys a pair of pants; while she is hesitant to see him, she agrees to maintain a friendship with him.
In 1947, Celie reunites with Nettie, along with Adam and Olivia. She joins hands with them as she and everyone else thank God for how far they have come.
Additionally, Whoopi Goldberg makes a cameo appearance as a midwife who helps young Celie give birth. Goldberg previously portrayed Celie in the original film.
In November 2018, it was reported that a film adaptation of the musical was in development at Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, the same companies that made the 1985 film adaptation of the novel, with Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones, Scott Sanders, and Oprah Winfrey all signed on to produce. In August 2020, it was announced that Marcus Gardley will pen the screenplay and Black Is King's Blitz Bazawule will direct. Winfrey praised the selection of Bazawule as director, after she and the producers saw his work on The Burial of Kojo, saying that they "were all blown away by Blitz's unique vision as a director and look forward to seeing how he brings the next evolution of this beloved story to life." It was also announced that Alice Walker, Rebecca Walker, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Carla Gardini, and Mara Jacobs will executive produce the film. Siedah Garrett joined Brenda Russell and Stephen Bray (in place of the late Allee Willis) in contributing new material to the film's score. The film had financing through Domain Entertainment.
In August 2021, Corey Hawkins was cast in a lead role. That same month, H.E.R. was cast in her feature acting debut. In February 2022, Taraji P. Henson, Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, and Halle Bailey joined the cast, with Barrino and Brooks reprising their roles from productions of the stage musical. In March 2022, Louis Gossett Jr., David Alan Grier, Tamela J. Mann, Phylicia Mpasi, Deon Cole, Stephen Hill, and Ciara joined the cast. In April 2022, Aunjanue Ellis, Elizabeth Marvel and Jon Batiste joined the cast.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Oprah Winfrey reported that the film had difficulty getting the cast that Bazawule wanted, as there were other productions with African American artists in progress. However, Winfrey explained that "if you were making this film for $30 or $40 million, the interest in the cast would be very different", but some producers put pressure on the names of the cast when the film hit $90–100 million in production, asking to include Beyoncé or Rihanna in the cast.
Filming began in March 2022, with production taking place at Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island from March 16 to March 25. Filming officially wrapped in July 2022.
In a 2024 interview with The New York Times, Taraji P. Henson spoke out against unfair pay and working conditions while working on the film. Henson said the studio forced her to audition despite being the director's first choice. She said, "At this point I’m a Golden Globe-winner and Academy Award–nominated...So I went in there with a chip on my shoulder because I was like, ‘You will never second-guess me again". Henson also alleged the production forced the cast to drive in production cars to set. She disagreed with the decision, citing safety and liability concerns, and alleged that she asked, "'Can I get a driver or security to take me?' I’m not asking for the moon. They’re like, 'Well, if we do it for you, we got to do it for everybody.' Well, do it for everybody! It’s stuff like that, stuff I shouldn’t have to fight for." Fellow actor Danielle Brooks revealed the actors did not initially get their own dressing rooms when they showed up for rehearsals, nor was food provided to them at that time. The cast reached out to Oprah Winfrey, one of the film's producers who eventually resolved the issue.
Producer Oprah Winfrey said of the matter, "I’m not in charge of the budget," adding" "whenever I heard there was an issue or there was a problem, there was a problem with a cars or the problem with their food, I would step in and do whatever I could to make it right. And I believe that [Taraji] would even vouch for that and say that is true.” In 2024, Henson told Today, that she hopes the film's negative press surrounding the working conditions doesn't distract from the film. She said, "I hope they can focus back onto this film, because right now, to me, it feels like what I said is now becoming louder than this beautiful film". She also defended Oprah saying, "What you’re not gonna do is pit two Black women together".
On December 1, 2023, BroadwayWorld revealed that the film will not be a direct copy-and-paste adaptation of the stage musical, with elements from the novel and the 1985 film also being featured, including "Miss Celie’s Blues (Sister)," the song sung by the character of Shug Avery in the 1985 film. 13 songs from the musical were cut from the film, including "Somebody Gonna Love You," "Our Prayer," "Big Dog," "Dear God - Sofia," "Brown Betty", "Uh-Oh," "African Homeland," "Celie's Curse," "Any Little Thing," "What About Love (Reprise)," "That Fine Mister," "A Tree Named Sofia," and "All We Got to Say," while a song cut from the stage production, titled "She Be Mine," was reinstated for this film.
On November 27, the soundtrack's musicians and singers were revealed to be executive produced by Quincy Jones, Larry Jackson and Scott Sanders via Warner Bros. records, WaterTower Music and Gamma. The soundtrack features songs by Alicia Keys, Usher, Mary J. Blige, Megan Thee Stallion, Jennifer Hudson, Tamela Mann, Mörda, Brenden Praise, Keyshia Cole, Ludmilla, Jorja Smith, Coco Jones, Mary Mary, Missy Elliott and the film's actors Halle Bailey, H.E.R, Fantasia and Ciara. Compositions from the Broadway production will be included, such as "She Be Mine" and "Shug Avery Comin' to Town", along with new, original music for the film.
American record production and songwriting duo Nova Wav, composed by Denisia Andrews and Brittany Coney were involved in the project by the director Bazawule. The duo wrote and composed original song "Keep It Movin'", with Morten Ristorp and Halle Bailey, and it is performed by Bailey and Phylicia Pearl Mpasi. The song was published on November 11, 2023. On November 27, 2023, "Lifeline" was published as the second original song from the film, written and performed by Alicia Keys.
The soundtrack album was released on December 15, 2023, by WaterTower Music with the title The Color Purple (Music From and Inspired By). A second official soundtrack album showcasing the film's score, which was composed by Kris Bowers, was released alongside the film itself on December 25, 2023.
The film had its world premiere in London on November 20, 2023, and was released theatrically on December 25, 2023. It was originally scheduled to be released on December 20, 2023, but later switched release dates with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
The Color Purple was released for digital platforms on January 16, 2024, and followed a Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K UHD release on March 12, 2024. The film was available to stream on Max beginning February 16, 2024.
The Color Purple grossed $60.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $6.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $67.5 million. Variety reported that the film lost the studio $40 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.
In the United States and Canada, The Color Purple was released alongside Ferrari and The Boys in the Boat, and was projected to gross $8–10 million from 3,203 theaters on its first day. It exceeded expectations and grossed $18.2 million, finishing third at the box office for the day. Its opening day was the second-highest domestic opening for a film on Christmas Day of all-time (behind Sherlock Holmes' $24.6 million in 2009), and the highest-grossing domestic opening day for a musical post-COVID 19 pandemic. The following weekend the film made $11.7 million, finishing fourth at the box office and totaling $44 million over its first week of release. In its second weekend, the film made $4.8 million, finishing seventh.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 81% of 255 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "Building on the legacy of the previous film adaptation while incorporating elements of the stage musical, The Color Purple is a crowd-pleasing testament to resilience in the face of trauma." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 72 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 92% of filmgoers gave it a positive score. Multiple publications listed it as one of the best films of 2023, including the New York Post, Deadline Hollywood, and People.
Pete Hammond, reviewing the film for Deadline Hollywood, reports that although "Spielberg’s version still resonates", the direction of Bazawule "brings a unique vision that makes this version stand on its own as an authentic and valuable addition to The Color Purple legacy", appreciating the photography of Dan Laustsen, which "gives a vision of the early 20th century South rarely seen in films depicting the period, particularly Black lives". Katie Walsh of Los Angeles Times described the director's approach as "modern, while paying homage to the traditions of Broadway musicals", while the cast "takes your breath away", praising Barrino for her "stunning performance as Celie, holding the emotional center over decades" and Brooks, who "steals the whole movie, [...] She brings fire, humor and grit to a character who undergoes a dramatic, tragic arc".
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote that although "the plot strands are to finally tie up with startling serendipity", with "warmth and vehemence in this movie, especially in the big ensemble numbers", the film "is less successful in the solo scenes and the evocation of loneliness and suppressed despair", appreciating "an absolute powerhouse trio of female leads here, supercharging the action with their fierce charisma" by Barrino, Henson and Brooks' performances. Peter Debruge of Variety pointed out that the film made "a satisfying improvement" from the original film adaptation, adding "expressionistic flourishes". Even if "some of these tricks work better than others", the journalist wrote that "all work to expand the experience, making The Color Purple feel even more monumental than it did in Spielberg’s hands".
With her nomination for Best Supporting Actress, Danielle Brooks became the second actor nominated for playing the role of Sofia, after Oprah Winfrey's Oscar-nominated performance from the 1985 film.
The Color Purple led the nominations at the 55th NAACP Image Awards with sixteen nominations, and ultimately won eleven, including Outstanding Motion Picture, Outstanding Lead Actress (Fantasia Barrino), Outstanding Supporting Actress (Taraji P. Henson), Outstanding Supporting Actor (Colman Domingo), and Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture. The film surpassed the ten-nomination record jointly held by Black Panther, The Best Man, and Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey to become the most awarded and nominated film in the history of the ceremony.