Fifty Shades Darker trailer: Can sequel keep the thrills alive?

Fifty Shades of Grey whips up box office frenzy

16 February

Erotic film Fifty Shades of Grey has had a piping hot weekend at the box office, setting records in America and the UK. The film, based on the best-selling Fifty Shades novel trilogy by EL James, has opened in 56 counties and is on course for a global debut of $235 million.

The movie opened in the UK on Friday, 13 February, where it scored the best result for an 18-certificate film in history, with a first night total of £4.6 million, reports the Daily Telegraph.

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Because it contains "strong sex and nudity" it is also R-rated in the US – meaning those under 17 years old can only watch it if accompanied by an adult. Nevertheless it raked in $81.7 million, becoming the country's biggest Valentine's Day weekend launch of all time.

The Hollywood Reporter says Sam Taylor-Johnson's Fifty Shades film is the most successful launch ever for a female director, outdoing the $69.6 million opening for Catherine Hardwicke's 2010 adaptation of Twilight. Ironically, Twilight was the inspiration for EL James's Fifty Shades fan fiction novels.

Despite the film's success, it isn't certain that Taylor-Johnson will return to direct further instalments in the Fifty Shades franchise, says the Hollywood Reporter. Relations between the director and James were said to have become tense as the novelist was given "unprecedented control" over the making of the film.

But for the moment, everyone is celebrating. "We're all popping Champagne over here," Nick Carpou, Universal's president of domestic distribution, told the Los Angeles Times. "We couldn't be happier."

Fifty Shades of Grey review: is 'Cinderella porn' film any good?

13 February

The hotly awaited big-screen version of E.L. James' erotic best-seller Fifty Shades of Grey opens in UK cinemas today and while it gets a punishing treatment from most critics, others have been more gentle. The film tells the story of a sadomasochistic relationship between a college student and a businessman, whose desire for domination conceals secrets from in his past.

The movie, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and starring Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, features lengthy scenes of bondage and discipline, which have prompted all sorts of warnings, including an alert by British emergency services expecting a rise in call-outs from people involved in Fifty Shades inspired mishaps.

But many critics warn the only injury you're likely to suffer from watching the film is extreme boredom. Jan Moir in the Daily Mail calls the film "a great spanking bore".

"Yes, this Fifty Shades Of Grim might have its titillating moments," says Moir, "but it just goes on and on and on for no good reason before ending in an abrupt and unsatisfactory way — the very definition of bad sex".

Peter Travers in Rolling Stone agrees, calling the film "Cinderella porn" and "about as erotic as an ad for Pottery Barn". Travers is disappointed the film is "not as dirty as advertised" and says "the true audiences for Fifty Shades of Grey are gluttons for punishment — by boredom".

Kate Muir in The Times is kinder. She says Dornan and Johnson are "easy on the eye" and the initial scenes are "amusingly erotic", but adds, "by the end of the film I felt slightly soiled by the whole experience".

The film's strongest moments are the sex scenes, says Kaleem Aftab in The Independent, and to its credit it's "the first mainstream Hollywood film that successfully shows female pleasure in bondage scenes". Unfortunately, says Aftab, Dornan's performance is "flaccid" and we have to wade through an awful lot that is trite "like the opening of a porn movie in which a washing machine repairman will turn up at a house and be met by a bored housewife".

But Tim Robey in the Daily Telegraph has come out in defence of Fifty Shades, arguing that considering it's unpromising origins as Twilight fan fiction, the film has turned out "shockingly well".

Robey says Dornan manages to make his "ludicrous fantasy-hottie-Bluebeard" role "only intermittently absurd". But "the film's biggest asset is Johnson". Her timing and verve are terrific, says Robey, "and manage to upend the more distasteful indignities of the book in gold-spun-from-straw ways".

But while movie critics have been mostly negative, scathing reviews didn't stop the Fifty Shades books from being runaway best-sellers, and producers will be hoping for more of the same over the film's Valentine's weekend opening.

Fifty Shades of Grey only gets a 12 rating in France

12 February

Fifty Shades of Grey is "extreme", says its director. The Daily Mail has calculated the film is one-fifth sex scenes. It's banned in Malaysia, rated 'R' in the US, 18 in the UK – yet France has given the film a 12 rating.

The national film classification board – Le Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, or CNC – actually considered allowing all ages to see the film but decided that the casualness with which the film depicts sadomasochistic sex required a 12.

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson promised her adaptation of EL James's self-published bondage romance would be extreme for Hollywood but CNC president Jean-Francois Mary labelled it a "sentimental tale", says The Independent.

He said: "The director handled the sex scenes very skilfully and limited them to the bare minimum. It's more the subject itself, this S&M relationship, which pushed us to restrict the movie for audiences under 12."

Not all of France is appreciative of this relaxed attitude. Le Point magazine complained that: "Throughout the world everyone seems to agree that [Fifty Shades] is not appropriate for younger audiences.

"In Canada, Ireland, Australia and Czech Republic, Belgium and Sweden, ratings vary between 18 and 15 years old. Even the very liberal countries like the Netherlands didn't go under that age limit."

The film premiered in London last night and goes on general release across the UK from Friday. It stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson as a bondage-loving billionaire, Christian Grey, and his naive English Lit student lover, Anastasia Steele.

Fifty Shades of Grey - five things fans can expect

05 February

The highly-anticipated film version of EL James's best-selling erotic novel, Fifty Shades of Grey, is released in cinemas next week and fans are already getting hot and bothered.

James's trilogy of Fifty Shades books, dubbed "mummy porn" for their highly sexual content, have reportedly sold more than 100 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 50 languages. The film is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and stars Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson as his naive lover Anastasia Steele. It has been given an R rating in the US, an 18 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), and it is already banned in Malaysia. So what's all the fuss about?

No graphic male nudity

The Independent reports that while there's plenty of sex on screen, some of the novel's graphic details were omitted from the film. In the books, Anastasia is in awe of Christian's penis, which she describes as "soft and hard at once, like steel encased in velvet". But Jamie Dornan recently told an interviewer that his "todger" was contractually obliged to remain off-camera. It will be disguised with a discrete, flesh covered pouch.

No tampons

One infamous scene from the novel, commonly referred to as "The Tampon Scene", will not appear on screen, reports Variety. "It was never even discussed," says Taylor-Johnson. Producers decided if it was best if it stayed on the page. "The book needed to put you in Ana's shoes to be a successful experience," says producer Michael De Luca. "A lot of it was very literal. The movie didn't need to do that. It's a completely different medium."

Authentic BDSM

The Fifty Shades production team was helped by enlisting the expert knowledge of two dominatrices to ensure true authenticity, reports the Daily Telegraph. "Jamie had an on-set dominatrix to show him how it all worked, and I had a female dominatrix who helped me enhance my understanding," Taylor-Johnson said.

One fifth sex

Sex scenes make up 20 minutes of the overall 100 minute-long running time, says the Daily Mail. The film features 12 erotic scenes, just a fraction of the number that are detailed in the book, but still enough to make it "one of the raunchiest films in a decade". Taylor-Johnson assured fans her adaptation would in no way be "Fifty Shades of Vanilla." She added: "It's a Hollywood movie, but it's going to be extreme for that world."

The Red Room

The Red Room from the novel has been recreated in detail for the movie, and according to James's precise specifications. It is the room where the moody millionaire Christian Grey indulges his penchant for unorthodox bedroom activities. Time reports that James was concerned the room didn't seem "like a cheesy dungeon", so she gave quite specific instructions to the production design team. The room includes a spanking bench, leather floors and a saddle chair, custom made in England.

Released 13 February.