The Fifty Shades of Grey movie dominated the box office this weekend with some massive numbers, opening with a $81.7 million 3-day weekend! When it was first announced that Universal Studios had won bidding rights to Fifty Shades of Grey, the erotic BDSM-themed bestselling series, the main reaction in Hollywood was disbelief and derision. Most people didn’t think that such an adult-themed concept would fly with modern audiences, especially since R-rated sex-themed movies had historically under-performed at the box office. However, Fifty Shades of Grey has definitely broken that streak, because it has set new box office records with a three-day opening weekend of $81.7 million.
It came very close to toppling the all-time February opening weekend, which still belongs to Passion of the Christ’s $83.8 million. And even though the two movies couldn’t be more different, they clearly worked on similar marketing strategies of hype and curiosity from the casual movie-goer. Sure, the Fifty Shades of Grey book series has sold millions and millions of copies, but there’s no denying that Universal launched an effective marketing strategy. All the billboards across the country with the words ‘Curious?’ strewn across the poster definitely piqued the public’s interest, and there was so much hype around it that many people just wanted to go see what it was all about.
Now, the four-day holiday weekend is looking close to $90.7 million, even the drop-off next weekend is expected to be massive. With front-loaded movies like this, the second and third weekend drop in box office is astronomical, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Fifty Shades of Grey dropped more than 50%. The word of mouth is atrocious, and the movie is currently at 26% on Rotten Tomatoes. And that’s even worse than the Twilight movies!
Kingsman: the Secret Service came in a distant second place to Fifty Shades of Grey with $35.6 million for the three-day weekend, even though it worked as solid counter-programming to Fifty Shades.
Overall, the 2015 box office is off to a phenomenal start, after the success of American Sniper and now Fifty Shades of Grey. We can lament the actual quality of these movies, but it’s good news that the country seems to be passionate about going to the movies again.
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