50 Shades of Grey leads North American box office revenue

Fifty Shades of Grey not only confirmed its heat at North American theaters, but is likely to break many records of other movies this weekend.

The Universal film got off to a strong start, grossing $30.2 million on Friday and is expected to earn $76 million at the U.S. box office by the end of the weekend. If it hits that mark, it will break the record for a film showing in theaters on the weekend before Presidents' Day, which is currently held by Garry Marshall's Valentine's Day film, which grossed $63.1 million in 2010.

Fifty Shades of Grey broke the Valentine's Day box office record, currently held by the film Valentine's Day, with $23.4 million.

A scene from the movie "50 Shades of Grey"

Since its worldwide release on February 13, the film has topped the box office in 56 of 57 countries and territories, including major markets such as the UK, France, Germany, and Russia. It is likely to earn $158.3 million internationally by the end of this weekend. This makes Fifty Shades of Grey the second-highest grossing film in Universal history, behind only Fast & Furious 6 ($160.3 million).

50 Shades of Grey is based on the erotic romance novel of the same name by EL James. With a modest production cost of only about 40 million USD, the film by director Sam Taylor-Johnson revolves around the story of a student named Anatasia Steele (played by Dakota Johnson) with little experience in love and gets involved in a complicated relationship with Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), a handsome billionaire with strange sexual preferences.

Kingsman: The Secret Service, also proved hot, grossing $10.5 million on Friday. The action film, starring Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson, is expected to gross $40 million this weekend. Kingsman cost $80 million to produce and has already opened in a number of foreign markets, earning producers about $20 million.

Last weekend's top-grossing film, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, finished third this weekend with an estimated $31 million. Warner Bros.' American Sniper and Jupiter Ascending rounded out the top five. American Sniper added $3.4 million on Friday alone, pushing it past the $300 million mark domestically.

According to thethaovanhoa.vn