Fraudulent mass ticket buying on OD in an attempt to garner publicity?

Or could it be black audiences hate musicals and they didn't realize it was one?

Probably a bit of the latter + those who did go see it went in those OD groups.

There was a precedent here although not nearly as dramatic, Ali, which had the biggest Christmas Day opening of all time I believe in 2001 to $10,216,625 before finishing with just $58,203,105.

Ali ratio: 5.70X
The Color Purple: 3.31X

Ali had Christmas on a Tuesday vs Monday so some fluctuation but an avid audience of fans rushing out to see it on opening day.

My feeling is more people saw Ali to give it better legs as well since Smith was still just 5 years off from ID4 and 4 from MIB. Ali was his follow up to Wild Wild West and Bagger Vance so had some stumbles, but enough common moviegoers maybe gave it a chance because he was in it. Ali was an iconic athlete that was globally known.

Yes, I thought of Ali the day Color Purple opened as well. It had that same vibe that it would drop off heavily (but obviously worse).

Ali was fairly hyped and had Mann coming off The Insider and Will as one of the most famous sportsmen ever was always going to sell. If anything, the final gross was hugely disappointing at the time.

Offcourse, competition for adults in late 2021/early 2002 was mega with FOTR, Oceans 11, Vanilla Sky, The Majestic, Behind Enemy Lines, A Beautiful Mind, Royal Tenenbaums and Black Hawk Down.