The Color Purple (2023) Trailer

Not really sold yet on its BP win potential... it's obviously going to be different from the Spielberg film, but I think people might still not be able to avoid thinking of it as a "remake" even subconsciously, so I can easily see it going the way of West Side Story (2021) with maybe a BSA win and that's it.

"Bold new take" is indeed... correct.

I definitely preferred the initial trailer highlighting Fantasia's beautiful rendition of "I'm Here".

I also wanted to mention that it seems Blitz Bazawule is paying aesthetic homage to Julie Dash's beautiful, historic Daughters of the Dust (1991) - I'm hoping this film will encourage a new generation to seek that film out!

Every year there is at least one Oscar bait I'm really dreading watching, this year it's The Color Purple. However, I will gladly watch the Spielberg version which I've yet to see.

This looks bad...

I liked the first trailer a good bit and don't necessarily dislike this one, but the clean aesthetic of the movie is bothering me. There's no texture to the image at all and all the costuming and makeup is so pristine that leads to this fake glossy image. I get that it's a musical and those usually come with a sense of glamor to them, but given the subjects and this kind of story it just feels a bit inauthentic. I know Spielberg himself got a bit of flack for how lush the color palette in his adaptation looked, but here everything about the visual design of the film just looks phony. Even the framing looks like TV, like Blitz Bazawule was thinking first and foremost about how it will look when it's dumped on a streaming service.

This basically just makes me feel good about the predictions I already had. I think it's pretty good for the back half of Picture, Actress, Supporting Actress X2 (with Brooks being in win contention) it looks like maybe Domingo or Hawkins could sneak in too with that fifth slot being so wide open. Keeping it in for cinematography. Maybe some other techs. I haven't really started thinking about those categories yet.

The bar was never that high critically for this to be an Oscar player and it's looking to be above that.

The Creator was only made a thing on here because someone’s son is in it. The Color Purple could probably be a BP nominee even if the reviews are meh since it is so Oscar friendly. This isn’t an original sci fi we are talking about here but a source material with proven Awards power over several mediums. All this had to do was not suck.

Nobody here was saying that though. I literally said “back half” of best picture and Stephen said it was what we thought it was.

I do think that The Color Purple had a lower bar to clear for quality compared to something like Napoleon, though. People had their knives out for Napoleon from the outset. And while we shouldn't necessarily stake our expectations on the film's quality with pundits, they go into movies with the express idea of how it will fare with awards, so even if I wouldn't trust them necessarily on judging a movie's artistic merits, they can be useful at seeing how people are going to react in the moment in the season.

The pedigree and subject matter of The Color Purple has a built-in security with something like the industry awards, where really all it needs to do is just not be a Cats-level dumpster fire to get the expected nominations of Picture, Supporting Actress (x2), possibly Adapted Screenplay and the requisite techs. Barrino seems to be getting great notices and even though Best Actress is incredibly stacked this year, there's always been a spot reserved for her in case she makes landfall, and it sounds like she will. And that just puts it in line for Picture, even if it isn't necessarily a top five contender.

Les Misérables is a good comparison to draw. A late-breaking highly-anticipated adaptation of a revered musical based on an acclaimed literary work, with a strong Supporting Actress candidate that pulls along a leading nomination to go along with it. They seem to be hoping for a strong blitz campaign at the end of the season to overwhelm and maximize nominations, even if its likeliest win equity is for Danielle Brooks.