Irish Cinema Bans Single Men From Watching ‘Fifty Shades Darker’

A cinema in County Meath, Ireland, has jokingly tried to ban “unaccompanied males” from watching Fifty Shades Darker.

The tongue in cheek announcement was made by the Navan cinemas just ahead of Fifty Shades Darker’s release. According to the Irish Mirror, the man who recorded this specific phone listing for the Diamond Cinema was Paul Egan, who didn’t just joke that “unaccompanied males” wouldn’t be allowed into the cinema to watch it, but also quipped that any couple that did would be asked to sit with a number of seats between them, too.

“If you’re looking to go to Fifty Shades Darker and you’re bringing your boyfriend, you better keep lots of space between you. It’s on an 18 cert and I must stress that single men or married men on their own, any unaccompanied males will not be allowed in.”

Paul Egan was then quizzed by the Irish Mirror about why he decided to leave such a humorous message to describe Fifty Shades Darker, and he admitted that the reputation of the erotic drama had very much preceded it.

During his light-hearted explanation, Paul Egan teased that solo Fifty Shades Darker male viewers will be able to see it by themselves, but only once they’ve judged the reaction of other moviegoers, though.

“Well, it’s meant to be a titillating film so I thought it might be better to keep the single men outside until we suss it out. Sure it could lead to all sorts of temptation with women’s hormones flying all over the place, while watching the film. It might be better to keep the men outside the door until we see if women can control themselves.”

If Fifty Shades Darker’s marketing team were looking for a description to put on the posters for the film Paul Egan then provided one for them, as he called the film “basically porn for women.”

“The film is basically porn for women, going on what the distributors are describing to us.”

There was just one problem with Paul Egan’s remarks, though. He hasn’t actually seen all of the film, as Egan confessed that he fell asleep during his first attempt to see it.

“I saw a bit of it. I actually fell asleep, those kind of films just don’t grab me at all.”

Reviews for Fifty Shades Darker suggest that many other people might have joined Paul Egan in falling asleep while watching the film. That’s because Fifty Shades Darker has scored just 9 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, while the critical consensus on the website has been particularly scathing.

“Lacking enough chemistry, heat, or narrative friction to satisfy, the limp Fifty Shades Darker wants to be kinky but only serves as its own form of punishment.”

That hasn’t stopped plenty of moviegoers from going to see Fifty Shades Darker, though. It has already grossed $146.9 million across the world in just its opening weekend, with $46.8 million in the United States and Canada, while it has grossed $100.1 million from international territories, too. This is particularly impressive considering that it cost $55 million to make, and was up against both The Lego Batman Movie and John Wick: Chapter 2 at the box office.

There’s a chance that Universal Pictures will be a little disappointed by its box office haul, though. That’s because 2015’s Fifty Shades Of Grey actually took in $85.1 million domestically, and around $240 million across the world, during its opening weekend.

Fifty Shades Of Grey ultimately went on to gross $571 million across the world, and while Fifty Shades Darker is unlikely to match that total, the fact that its follow-up Fifty Shades Freed has shot back-to-back with Darker means that it will still be released. In fact, Fifty Shades Freed will be released on February 9, 2018.

[Featured Image by Universal Pictures]