Released today across various different markets, including the UK, US and many European countries, Fifty Shades of Grey has finally been unleashed after months of anticipation. And despite its opening being only a few hours old, the film has already broken box-office records.
The film, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, took an estimated $3.7 million on Wednesday, which included $2.7 million in France, a record opening day for Universal Pictures, beating the previous record-holder Fast & Furious 6, not including inflation.
Fifty Shades of Grey is set to break many more records over the weekend, with its US release set to be the biggest of all. Opening today in 3,645 North American cinemas, the most modest estimates for the film’s debut stand around $50 million, while others are suggesting that the tracking and early-ticket sales of the film will see it closer to the $80 million-$90 million, which will increase further over the 4-day Valentine’s Day / Presidents Day weekend. That would easily break the previous holiday weekend record holder, 2011’s suitably titled Valentine’s Day, which took $63 million.
The final numbers on the film will also depend on how successful the weekend’s other releases fare against it. Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service debuts today also and could give male cinemagoers a nice alternative to all the S&M and romance, and box-office analysts suggest the film could open with around $30 million.
Last weekend’s No.1 film, The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water could continue its impressive run with estimates of its second weekend around $30-$33 million, while American Sniper is still raking in the dollars, and will continues its magnificent run with another $15-$17million weekend, which would take its total to over the $300 million mark, putting it on course to become 2014’s highest grossing domestic film above The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Ticket site Fandago has reported that Fifty Shades has the fourth-highest pre-release tickets sales behind The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and The Hunger Games, all of which grossed over $140 million, which makes Fifty Shades’ chances of a huge $100 million weekend a real possibility. In the UK and Europe, more than 2.75 million pre-sale tickets have been sold in 39 overseas markets, which puts it ahead of such films as The Dark Knight, Avatar, The Avengers and Mamma Mia in pre-sales.
Fifty Shades of Grey is out now in the UK and the US, and you can read our reviews here and here. You can pre-order the film now before its June 22nd Blu-ray and DVD release. Listen to the Flickering Myth Podcast review using the player below:
Originally published February 13, 2015. Updated July 3, 2023.
