Purple Rain [40th Anniversary Edition] Prince movie

Warner Bros Pictures

motion picture

Purple Rain was a game-changer

Premiered by Warner Brothers at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on 26 July 1984, Prince’s motion picture debut Purple Rain became an instant success and cultural phenomenon.

Yet despite grossing an impressive $12.6 million in its first week, the movie opened in just 200 theatres in cautiously chosen ‘urban’ locations as the studio feared the movie’s cast of black characters would not be received well, particularity in southern US. Purple Rain smashed racial prejudices and screenings rapidly expanded to 917 theatres and go on to gross ten times its production budget, taking $68.4 million in total.

Purple Rain is the story of an ambitious young musician – The Kid – struggling to establish his band The Revolution in the jealously competitive Minneapolis nightclub scene. The movie, drawing heavily on Prince’s real-life band rivalry with The Time, is centred on their dynamic performances at the live music venue First Avenue: “The last stop for a band before international fame”. The accompanying Purple Rain soundtrack garnered Prince a slew of awards, including an Oscar, two Grammys, and three AMAs during the award season of 1985 the most successful year of his career. Critics have since hailed Purple Rain the greatest concert movie since The Beatles’ It’s Hard Day’s Night of 1964. The album went on to sell 25 million copies.

Prince’s desire to create and star in his semi-autobiographical movie took flight in 1983 as his contract with Warner Bros Records approached renewal. Riding high having recently completed his hugely successful 1999 Triple Threat Tour, owing to the breakout hit Little Red Corvette, the only way Warner could guarantee to extend Prince’s recording contract for a further five years was to bend to his demands for a motion picture as well as display his name, rather than the studio, above the title of its accompanying poster. Prince’s management had already touted the movie to various studios, each dismissing it as commercial madness, but he was determined to work only with a major studio to distribute it. So Warner agreed. With no established directors willing to take on the project, having just graduated from the USC School of Cinema-Television aspiring director Albert Magnoli had caught Warner’s interest. Seeing potential for the movie Magnoli accepted the challenge, on the proviso he could rework its dark script.

The movie was cast with Prince’s actual band members and real-life acquaintances, with only two professional actors, Clarence Williams III and Olga Karlatos to receive roles, playing Prince’s troubled father and mother. The plot, a struggling musician blighted by a life of domestic violence, backed with an outstanding soundtrack, showcased the unleashed genius of Prince to the world. The movie made Prince the biggest crossover success since Michael Jackson, and such was its impact into the white music mainstream, the demographic of audiences attending Prince’s next tour, Purple Rain Tour, switched from 60 percent black to 90 percent white. The music of Prince would dominate the 1980s and significantly influence the 1990s and beyond.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of the original movie and its iconic soundtrack, Purple Rain was upgraded to 4K ultra high definition for release as a two-disc Steelbook edition on 29 July 2024. It is the latest of a range of formats Purple Rain has been reissued following its theatrical debut in July 1984. Purple Rain movie first retailed on VHS home video on 19 November 1984, and on 25 June 1997 was reissued for the first time in DVD format. A two-disc special edition DVD followed on 24 August 2007 to mark the movie’s 20th anniversary, shortly after its first Blu-ray release on 24 July 2007. On 17 October 2016 the disc was bundled with Prince’s other movies Under The Cherry Moon (1986) and Graffiti Bridge (1990) as a boxset titled Prince Movie Collection available in both Blu-ray and DVD formats. The 40th anniversary Steelbook edition released on 29 July 2024 is a two-disc set comprising the UHD version remastered to 4K, with disc two reissuing the Blu-ray at 2K resolution. Purple Rain 4K UHD is also available as a single disc version, released on 24 July 2024. The Steelbook’s special features reissue the featurettes first created for the original Blu-ray.

Special Features

4K UHD

• Purple Rain movie (presented in 2160p 4K UHD)
• Audio Commentary by Albert Magnoli, Robert Cavallo and Donald E. Thorin
• First Avenue: The Road to Pop Royalty (12 mins)
• 8 Music Videos: Let’s Go Crazy (4:01), Take Me With U (4:46), When Doves Cry (5:58), I Would Die 4 U / Baby I’m A Star (4:41), Purple Rain (7:05), Jungle Love / The Bird (The Time), Sex Shooter (Apollonia 6)

Blu-ray

• Purple Rain movie (presented in 1080p 2K HD)
• Purple Rain Backstage Pass: Behind the Scenes (26 mins)
• Riffs, Ruffles and a Revolution: The Impact and Influence of Purple Rain (10 mins)
• MTV Premiere Party Original Broadcast
• Prince Movies Trailer Gallery

Data

Director

Albert Magnoli

Released

24 July 2024

Running Time

147 minutes

Orig. Format

Related release

Purple Rain [movie]

Warner Bros. Pictures • 1984

About this release