It seems that the curiosity over whether or not the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey would live up to the book series has amounted to box office success as E.L James's first installment of the series has had the biggest Presidents Day weekend opening in history. Thanks to Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson breathing life into the characters of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, the film has raked in almost $81.7 million since last Friday, Feb. 13.
Deadline has effectively dissected the film's performance since it premiered last week.
"In terms of whether Valentine's Day would spike the B.O., or if its first-day grosses were front-loaded, Fifty Shades jumped 21% Saturday with another $36.679M. On its first night, Fifty Shades was a girls night out with 82% of the audience being female. On Valentine's Day, it was a date night crowd, still dominated by females at 68% of the audience. It was a younger crowd, too, with only 41% of all Fifty Shades moviegoers 30 and older. Caucasians made up 52% of the audience, followed by 22% Hispanic and 15% African American," said the report.
The actual reviews for the film have been quite mixed, with Fifty Shades of Grey ending up with a lukewarm reception overall. Ironically, it was supposedly Johnson who could not connect or bring out emotion with Dornan on camera, yet in reality she is considered to be one of the film's brightest spots. As for all of that BDSM the book contained, well, we already knew that with a R rating that that stuff was never going to make it onscreen.
Even without all the sex being included, it seems that an awful lot of women decided to buy into this "love story" and make it a part of their Valentine's Day weekend. Did you head to the theater to see Fifty? If so, did it live up to your hopes? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.
