Jamie Dornan

The Fifty Shades Darker Trailer Is the Most-Viewed Trailer Ever in Its First 24 Hours

Jamie Dornan, 'Fifty Shades Darker' (EW.com)

Jamie Dornan, ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ (EW.com)

Guess who’s back? Back again?

Not Slim Shady. Everyone’s favorite telecommunications boy-genius/BDSM enthusiast/master manipulator Christian Grey and blank slate/everygirl/victim Ana Steele. Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson reprise their roles as the aforementioned twosome in the installment based on E.L. James’ second book Fifty Shades Darker.

The first trailer for the movie debuted on Wednesday, Sept. 14th and has already become notable for setting a new record: The trailer became the most-viewed trailer within 24 hours of its release.

The Fifty Shades Darker trailer was viewed 114M times within the first day of its release. It performed well across digital platforms, and received 2.5M views on the movie’s Facebook page only in the U.S. Internationally, the trailer was viewed 74.6M times, over double the number of domestic views.

The previous record for most-viewed trailer in the 24-hour period after its debut was 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. That trailer received 112M views.

With these viewing numbers for an initial trailer, I think we can reasonably expect that the second movie will do fairly well in box office take when released. If past trends are anything to go by, the first movie sold a lot of advance tickets and became the “sixth R-rated movie to gross more than $500 million.”

Fifty Shades Darker will be released Feb. 10, 2017.

 

 

“Fifty Shades of Grey” Morning After: Opening Weekend Box Office

'Fifty Shades of Grey' still (Nova FM)

‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ still (Nova FM)

Last week, we examined different aspects of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” in preparation for the then-upcoming movie. 

Who saw “Fifty Shades of Grey” this weekend? I did, twice (and I own my choices).

The collective ticket-buying (and swooning over Jamie Dornan) is estimated to make $81M+ its three-day opening weekend (comprising Friday, Saturday and Sunday). The movie opened at 3.6K+ theaters (“the widest release to date for an R-rated film,” as “The Hollywood Reporter” notes), and is projected to make $90M+ over the four-day holiday weekend (which includes Monday). If it hits this number, “Fifty Shades of Grey” will hold the honor of having the biggest President’s Day opening weekend in history.

Internationally, the movie has opened to #1 in 56 markets to nab $158M+, doing very well in Europe and Latin America. “Deadline Hollywood” reports that five countries have yet to release it, including Korea and the United Arab Emirates, through Mar. 5. China will release the movie next weekend. So far, the global total numbers $248M+.

Needless to say, “Fifty Shades” is doing gangbusters business. It’s safe to say the movie will turn a profit: it was only made for $40M.

The movie has also hit another milestone: it’s the biggest opening for a female director. Catherine Hardwicke previously held this record for directing the first “Twilight” film, released in November 2008. (Incidentally, the “Fifty Shades” trilogy started out as “Twilight” fan fiction.) That movie took in $69M+ its first weekend.

It’s unclear whether director Sam Taylor-Johnson would try to repeat that feat with the next two movies in the “Fifty Shades” trilogy. So far, there have not been any discussions of her returning, as she only signed a deal to make one movie.

Hopefully, this stunning showing will open the door for more female-led erotic films, both in front of and behind the camera.

Are Male or Female Submissives More Common?

Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey (EW.com)

Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey (EW.com)

In a recent interview with “Elle UK,” actor Jamie Dornan discussed his role in the upcoming “Fifty Shades of Grey.” He will play businessman Christian Gray, who initiates Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) into his world of pleasure and pain.

Dornan described going to a sex dungeon for research and expressed surprise at how large and widespread the lifestyle is. He then claimed that “more men are submissives than women.”

Is this true?

Dornan was probably speaking from his own anecdotal experience of visiting the dungeon. We don’t know if he visited more than one (and where the dungeon or dungeons were located), and so cannot extrapolate any larger trends from his observation.

But a couple of recent studies illuminate how dominant and submissive roles in BDSM break down along gender lines. Naturally, one of the questions asked was how participants self-identify: as doms, as subs, as women, as men.

In 2013, a Dutch study found 33% of the men surveyed identified as submissive, while 48% identified as dominant. Among women, 76% of respondents identified as submissive, and 8% identified as dominant.

Closer to home, a study from Southern California came out, which examined mental health among BDSM practitioners.

Within the study, 26% self-identified as submissive (with 61% self-identifying as dominant). Amongst women, 69% identified as submissive, and 30% identified as dominant.

This might be a stat where the anecdotal evidence differs from the numerical data. The male respondents might not’ve wanted to self-identify as submissive, and so might’ve skewed the data. But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.