The Color Purple entered the holiday box office corridor on Christmas Day, and it performed well beyond expectations.

Per Deadline, The Color Purple grossed an estimated $18.15 million on Christmas Day; well above the already impressive $12-13 million the film was tracking ahead of the big day. This is the biggest Christmas Day opening since 2009 when Sherlock Holmes opened to $24.6 million. It also comes out just ahead (if estimates hold) of the Christmas Day launch of the movie adaptation of the musical Les Miserables ($18.1 million).

Overall, The Color Purple led the Christmas pack, but Warner Bros. has the distinction of having the top 3 spots at the box office on the day thanks to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom ($10.6 million) and Wonka ($10.3 million). Christmas tends to be a big box office day as families tend to make a part of the celebration ahead of other festivities.

Word of mouth appears to be good for The Color Purple moving forward as it scored an impressive “A” CinemaScore from opening day audiences. Its Rotten Tomatoes audience score is also high at 94 percent. Critical reviews are also strong at 89 percent with the film hoping to score nominations from the Screen Actors Guild and The Academy Awards.

Other Christmas box office stats George Clooney’s The Boys in the Boat doing decent business at $5.7 million while Michael Mann’s Ferrari fared less with just $2.85 million. Overall, the Christmas four-day results were up 11 percent from year to year with $157.9 million versus $142.8 million.

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