*Executives at Warner Bros. allegedly blame Oprah Winfrey and Taraji P. Henson for the flop of “The Color Purple” movie musical.
As Forbes reports, the film adaptation of the stage musical had an “$18 million domestic opening—the largest on Christmas Day in over a decade—before falling to a $7 million gross on day two and $3.8 million by the third day,” the outlet writes.
The movie saw a 74.1% earnings drop after the first week of release, according to Box Office Mojo. Per Media Take Out, one studio executive explained, “The studio will only get about $24M, the other half will go to the theater that showed the film.”
“The Color Purple” movie musical reportedly had a $100M plus marketing, but the film has, so far, lost at least $75M, per MTO.
One insider told Media Take Out, “Executives blame Taraji Henson for derailing the promotional efforts of the film and using it as a selfish opportunity to change her personal narrative as an ‘aging and underpaid’ actress.”
During her promotional tour, Taraji claimed she and her co-stars were mistreated on the set of “The Color Purple.” Speaking to The New York Times, Henson said the cast got “a lot of stuff on that set” because she fought for it — including transportation to the set and sufficient trailers.
Henson’s co-star Danielle Brooks said Taraji “spoke up for us” behind the scenes, as the cast also didn’t have adequate food until Henson called up Oprah and lodged a complaint.
Studio executives allegedly reprimanded Oprah for not “controlling” Henson’s mouth.
The insider told Media Take Out, “Oprah should have taken Taraji to the side when she noticed she was taking the promotional efforts in a ‘negative space.’”
READ MORE: Oprah Winfrey Responds to ‘Disturbing’ Feud Rumors with Taraji P. Henson | Video
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