How To Watch The Color Purple Movie Musical At Home

Movie musicals are not only back, they're back with a surprising vengeance. Between Paul King's "Wonka" prequel singing and dancing its way to the top of the box office over the winter holidays, Blitz Bazawule's film version of the "Color Purple" Broadway adaptation enjoying a massive opening on Christmas Day, and now Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.'s "Mean Girls" movie musical making fetch happen for real, it's fair to say the musical genre has emerged as an unexpected savior for theaters at a time when we're really starting to feel the effects of the AMPTP having dragged out the two-pronged WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023.

If you've been waiting to get your musical theater on at home (no judgment from us — you do you), you're in luck! While you'll have to wait a while still for "Wonka" and "Mean Girls" to hit the home market, "The Color Purple" is now available to either purchase or rent on the major Premium Video On Demand platforms, including Vudu, Apple TV, and Prime Video. Bazawule's critically acclaimed "picture" — as Martin Scorsese would call it — is projected to land at least a handful of Oscar nominations from the Academy, making this the perfect time to get caught up on what /Film's own BJ Colangelo proclaimed "undoubtedly the best musical of 2023."

Fortunately, if you're one of our fellow disc hounds, you will also have the option of picking up "The Color Purple" on home media pretty soon too.

Adapted from the hit 2005 Broadway stage musical (which was later revived in 2015), "The Color Purple" marks the second big-screen take on Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel of the same name after the non-musical 1985 film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Danny Glover (among others). But for all its initial critical and commercial success, Spielberg himself would tell you he didn't quite hit the mark with his telling of Walker's story about Celie Harris-Johnson, a queer Black woman, and the hardships she endures living in early 20th-century Georgia. It's part of what inspired him to team up with Winfrey to produce the movie musical alongside Quincy Jones and Scott Sanders.

Fantasia Barrino, reprising her role from the original Broadway show, leads the star-studded cast of 2023's "The Color Purple" as Celie, with Colman Domingo, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P. Henson, Corey Hawkins, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, and Halle Bailey among those filling out the ensemble. The movie will also begin streaming on Max on February 16, 2024, before becoming available to buy on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD a month later on March 12. However, those who pick up a hard copy will get additional bonus features like "Creating The Color Purple: A Bold New Take on the Beloved Classic" and "Hell Yes! The Iconic Characters of The Color Purple," in which the cast and crew talk about their characters and adapting Walker's source material. 

Another featurette, titled "In the Flow: Creating The Color Purple's Biggest Musical Moments," will feature rehearsal footage, while "A Story for Me: The Legacy of The Color Purple" is all about the enduring power of Walker's original novel and its many retellings. All in all, there are plenty of reasons to add this one to your home media collection, if you're so inclined.