Weekend box office: 'Fifty Shades' punished with 73% drop in ticket sales

LA Biz ^ | 2/23/15 | Annlee Ellingson

[bigtoona]

Melanie Griffith wasn't the only moviegoer who failed to check out "Fifty Shades of Grey" this weekend. Dakota Johnson's mom admitted in an awkward red-carpet interview at the Oscars that she hadn't seen her daughter's film. Plenty saw it over Valentine's Day, as the kinky romance grossed a record $93 million for the four-day Presidents Day frame. But the Universal release plunged 73 percent in its second weekend to an estimated $23.2 million.

The fall-off wasn't unexpected for the femme-friendly drama, what with its unpopularity among critics (25 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and ticket holders (a C+ grade from CinemaScore) alike. And it still tied up enough ticket sales to secure the top spot for the second weekend in a row.

Meanwhile, "Fifty Shades," which cost $40 million to make, is whipping up big business overseas, adding $280.5 million from 58 foreign markets for more than $400 million worldwide. Johnson will make out fine, even if her mom never does see it.

"Kingsman: The Secret Service" was runner-up again, dropping 52 percent in its follow-up frame to an estimated $17.5 million, followed by "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water" with $15.5 million.

Rounding out the top five were newcomers "McFarland, USA" and "The DUFF" with better-than-expected debuts of around $11 million each. Based on a true story, the Walt Disney Co.'s sports drama starring Kevin Costner appealed to men and women in equal measure, skewing older with 60 percent of ticket holders over age 25. And Lionsgate's teen comedy drew mostly young women, with 75 percent of its moviegoers female and 68 percent under age 25. Both were well-liked by their audiences, earning an A and A- from CinemaScore, respectively.

[kalee]

I said the same thing. If the guy had been physically unattractive and lived in a trailer park, the book would have been in the gothic horror section of the bookstore not the romance section.

[kalee]

I said the same thing. If the guy had been physically unattractive and lived in a trailer park, the book would have been in the gothic horror section of the bookstore not the romance section.

[kalee]

Sorry about the double post, not sure how that happened.

[PapaBear3625]

Best comment I heard was that if Grey lived in a trailer park, he'd be completely creepy. But, he's a billionaire, so that makes the whole thing a romance.

Money and status is the difference between a creep and Prince Charming.

Next time you're in a bookstore, check out a few of the "romance novels", and compare how many times the guy is a pirate captain, nobleman, billionaire, etc, versus novels featuring George the accountant.

[SaraJohnson]

It is anything but female friendly. Everything is up-side down now. Good is evil and evil is good.

[sheana]

Everyone thinks I’m kind of strange because I detest chick flicks. Glad there is someone else out there like me. ;)
Although I absolutely love some of the older dramas that could be thrown in the chick flick side categories mainly because of the actresses....Susan Taylor, Lana Turner, Liz Taylor, etc.
Thes modern, insipid chick flick? Blah!

[octex]

As bad as Howard the Duck was written....
************************************
Hey! I’m a geezer and I’ve watched HtD a couple of times on very late night TV. I thought it was very funny.

That said, I’d never watch sleeze like 50 Shades.

[Tonytitan]

I've read the lead actor has dropped out of the sequels.

You mean that there's more of this tripe in our future?

[infowarrior]

You mean that there's more of this tripe in our future?

There were, as I recall, sequels to the book this turkey was derived from, so I suspect we will have sequels offered rammed down our throats, it's the 'Hollywood' way...

the infowarrior

[Chode]

100% we are through the looking glass...

[Tonytitan]

I saw one write-up where they were gloating that it passed “The Passion”. I thought, “You wish”.

Here's how the domestic numbers, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, back you up:

OPENING DAY: Shades - $30,278,840 Passion - $26,556,573. Shades opened on a Friday, Passion on a Wed. Both were #1 for the day.

CONSECUTIVE DAYS AT #1 from open: Passion - 21 Shades - 3

BEST DAY: Passion - $33,077,939 on 2/28/04 Shades - $36,752,460 on 2/14/15. We all know why.

# OF DAYS TO $100,000,000: Shades - 6 Passion - 5. Came close to making it in 4.

# OF DAYS TO $140,000,000: Shades - 15 Passion - 7. Came close to making it in 6

# OF DAYS TO $150,000,000: Passion - 8. Came close to doing it in 7. Shades - ???

# OF DAYS TO $200,000,000: Passion - 12. Came close to doing it in 11. Shades - will never see it domestically. And definitely won't see $370,000,000+ like Passion did.

I just discovered something interesting about the foreign numbers. According to Mojo, Shades has made $338,000,000+ overseas so far. But if you total the countries they list you get $45,476,971. Looks like someone is trying to engage in a little political math. Someone needs to blister their website for lying.

In any case, Shades won't come anywhere near the $241,000,000+ that Passion made overseas.

AND THE PIECE de RESISTANCE: Passion totaled $611 million + in 2004 dollars. I would love to see that total in 2015 dollars.

That is all. Peace. Out.

[I still care]

Great math. Thanks for the numbers.