‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ Breaks ‘Fandango’ Sales Record
Both the book and upcoming Fifty Shades Of Grey movie may often be considered the punchline to a joke, but its sales figures speak for themselves. As of the end of 2013, the Fifty Shades Of Grey book had sold more 70 million copies in the United States alone. With that in mind, the film was guaranteed to be a box office success. However, given the track record of R-rated films, beating the likes of a PG-13 big blockbuster seemed like a tall order. However, if Fandango‘s early numbers are any indicator, Fifty Shades Of Grey stands to become, at the very least, the highest grossing R-rated film of all time. Right now, nearly a month before the film’s release, Fandango is crowning it the fastest-selling R-rated film in the company’s history (via Collider).
“It’s tracking to be Fandango’s fastest-selling R-rated movie of all time,” says Fandango Chief Correspondent Dave Karger. “Very few books can claim true national phenomenon status – and ‘Fifty Shades’ ranks with Twilight, The Hunger Games and Gone Girl as novels that entered the zeitgeist from coast to coast. Fans of the book have been waiting for years to see their favorite sexy characters come to life on the big screen, and they are clearly fueling our sensational advance sales.”
Fifty Shades Of Grey ranked number 4 in the “Most Anticipated 2015 Movies” list on Fandango, trailing behind juggernauts such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens,Avengers: Age Of Ultron, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2.
But Fandango wasn’t the only one showing Fifty Shades some serious love. TheWrap also put the film in its “25 Most Anticipated” movies for the year, re-enforcing the fact that the movie series will be a force to be reckoned with.
Fifty Shades Of Grey is based on a book by the same name, and follows the relationship of college student Anastasia Steele and billionaire Christian Grey. The book, written by E.L. James, famously started out as a fan fiction of Twilight. Originally named Masters Of The Universe, the erotic piece grew beyond what anyone imagined it would. James’ agent spoke with Deadline on the book’s origin (via LA Times).
“Originally it was written as fan fiction, then Erika [E.L. James] decided to take it down after there were some comments about the racy nature of the material. She took it down and thought, I’d always wanted to write. I’ve got a couple unpublished novels here. I will rewrite this thing, and create these iconic characters, Christian and Anna. If you read the books, they are nothing like Twilight now.”
Fifty Shades Of Grey hits theaters on February 13, 2015. Are you one of the many who got your tickets early? Will you be seeing the film in theaters at all? Let us know below!
