• Entertainment & Connectivity

APEX Hollywood Shortlist: Fifty Shades Of Grey Dominates Valentine’s Day Weekend B.O.

February 17, 2015  | Written by Tomas Romero

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Despite the fact that several major US theater chains banned hardcore (and even softcore!) Fifty Shades of Grey fans from wearing bondage and fetish gear to screenings over the weekend, fans turned out in droves for Universal’s hotly-anticipated adaptation of E.L. James’ best-selling novel. And while they may have left their leather whips and chains at home, filmgoers definitely brought their wallets, spurring Fifty Shades to an estimated $94M debut.

Spanking its way into Hollywood record books, Fifty Shades also had the largest international opening for an R-rated film ever with an estimated $158M, quickly becoming the fourth top-grossing R-rated opening domestically. And proving that the hard-charging Mr. Grey isn’t the only one calling the shots, Fifty Shades also had the top opening for a female director (Sam Taylor-Johnson) in film history.

But perhaps the most telling record set by Fifty Shades was the one it locked up with online ticketing powerhouse Fandango, whose sales reportedly accounted for 29 percent of all tickets sold over the weekend – a record average for Fandango. Which proves that Fifty Shades fans are either much more tech-savvy than the usual Fandango user or that they simply didn’t want to be spotted waiting in line for a racy Hollywood movie on Valentine’s Day. Either way, expect “Fifty Shades fever” to continue raising temperatures in theaters far and wide for a while.

Also opening surprising well with $42M was a literary adaptation of a much different color, Fox’s spy-action comedy Kingsman: The Secret Service starring Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Caine. Adapted from Mark Millar and Dave Gibbon’s cult graphic novel series, The Secret Service, the film more than held its own in a crowded marketplace.

Bubbling to the surface right behind Kingsman was last week’s returning champ, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon), which added another $40M to its treasure chest and crossed the $100M mark with an impressive two week haul of $103M.

And with just one week left until the Academy Awards, the Writers Guild of America awarded Best Original Screenplay honors to Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness for The Grand Budapest Hotel and the award for Best Adapted Screenplay to Graham Moore for his work on The Imitation Game. And though many point to the wins as a sign of good things to come on Oscar night, it’s important to remember that two of the front runners in the same categories at the Academy Awards, Birdman and The Theory of Everything, weren’t even nominated for WGA awards.

In other words, it’s still anyone’s game as award season enters its final, crazy lap towards Oscar gold!

Complete Box Office Results – February 13-16, 2015