Fifty Shades of Grey dominated the box office and set US weekend records, opening at No 1 with an estimated $81.7 million (Dh300 million) through Sunday.
Universal Pictures’ adaptation of E.L. James’ erotic novel is on track to pull in an estimated $90.7 million through the Monday holiday in the US and Canada. The studio originally projected a four-day opening weekend of $60 million.
With the surprise strength of Fifty Shades, total Friday-through-Sunday box office receipts were up 17 per cent from the same period last year. Year to date, the box office has grossed $1.45 billion in ticket sales and is up 11.4 per cent compared with 2014.
Universal had slated Fifty Shades for last summer, but the shift to Valentine’s Day weekend paid off: The film became the highest-grossing Presidents Day and Valentine’s Day weekend opener. The previous record holder, Valentine’s Day, launched with $56.3 million in 2010.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and starring Jamie Dornan as kinky billionaire Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson as demure love interest Anastasia Steele, Fifty Shades is the second-biggest February debut ever. It’s just shy of the $83.9 million mark set by The Passion of the Christ in 2004.
Fifty Shades also scored the fourth-biggest R-rated weekend premiere, trailing the $91.8 million record set by The Matrix Reloaded in 2003. (American Sniper is No 2, and The Hangover Part II is No 3 on that list.)
“We’re all popping Champagne over here,” said Nick Carpou, Universal’s president of domestic distribution. “We couldn’t be happier.”
Couples and women flocked to theatres, surveys showed. An estimated 68 per cent of Fifty Shades moviegoers were female, and 58 per cent were older than 25.
“Our team made the film as accessible to the widest audience we could,” Carpou said. The Valentine’s Day timing “expanded our patron base tremendously,” he said.
With $36.7 million on Valentine’s Day, Fifty Shades posted the biggest single-day gross ever in February.
The film performed strongly at Thursday night screenings and also roped in big numbers overseas. It opened at No 1 in 55 foreign markets where it was released, grossing a studio-estimated $158 million.
All this despite lackluster reviews from critics and a C-plus grade from audience polling firm CinemaScore.
