Haters to the left, please. Fifty Shades of Grey is a bonafide box office hit.
The movie everyone seems to love to hate blew by all expectations this weekend to earn $81.7 million dollars at the box office, and is projected to climb to $90 million before Sunday is over. Hot damn, that’s a lot of money. Variety reports that the Universal Studio’s decision to move the film to a Valentine’s Day opening was a gamble that paid off in a big way:
The erotic drama performed like a [comic book] movie, albeit one with much naughtier costumes, picking up $81.7 million from 3,646 locations over the three-day period. That easily trumped the holiday’s previous record-holder, the 2010 debut of the romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day,” which kicked off with $56.3 million.
Here’s a fun fact: The movie Fifty Shades of Grey beat for the top seat as the biggest grossing Valentine’s Day ever was none other than the film Valentine’s Day. (You know, the one with Taylor Swift and pretty much everyone else in Hollywood.)
The reason for the film’s success was because women turned out in droves to see the movie. According to Vulture, 68 percent of the audience on Valentine’s Day was female. So Hollywood, please stop pretending women don’t exist or go to see movies; thanks!
By Rebecca Rose
