Star Wars: The Force Awakens was such a highly anticipated movie that the teaser trailer alone racked up 88 million views during its first 24 hours online. That’s an astonishing number for sure, but even more astonishing, earlier this year the teaser trailer for Disney’s live-action adaptation Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson as Belle, managed to amass an incredible 91.8 million views during the same timeframe. Both are from Disney, both are incredibly family-friendly and both have huge fanbases.
However, neither The Force nor The Beast can come close to what the newly released trailer for Fifty Shades Darker just did this past Tuesday. The trailer for the Fifty Shades of Grey sequel, starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, managed to tie up over 112 million views in just 24 hours. That number becomes more impressive considering the adult-nature of the material presented in the movie (though it’s by all accounts far tamer than the books).
Universal Pictures sent out a press release breaking down the actual numbers: People in the U.S. viewed the Fifty Shades Darker teaser trailer over 39 million times. In addition, international markets are accountable for nearly 75 million of those views, with Facebook users in particular contributing around 2.5 million views.
While the first movie was not well-received critically, that apparently didn’t stop anyone from actually going to the theater, driving its final box office tally through the roof – to the worldwide tune of over $570 million. Sweetening the pot, it brought in just over $55 million in the home entertainment market. For a BDSM-centric rated R movie released in February on a budget of $40 million, that’s more than wildly successful.
If there was ever any doubt that two more films would be made, both based on the other works of fiction in E.L. James’ adult series – Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed – those doubts should now be firmly dismissed. Truth be known, the Fifty Shades Darker trailer actually accumulated more views than the Beauty and the Beast teaser, but that doesn’t make as great a proclamation as beating Star Wars: The Force Awakens: a movie that took in over $2 billion worldwide during its theatrical run.
Star Wars doesn’t just beat the kinky movie at the box office, it also has a more successful toy line than the Fifty Shades franchise – though the target audience for that toy line (link is SFW) might argue differently. No matter the case, there’s clearly a desire in the market for Fifty Shades and its sequels. Barring any major upsets, Fifty Shades Darker should have no problem finding an audience next February.
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Fifty Shades Darker will see theatrical release in the U.S. on February 10, 2017; Fifty Shades Freed will debut February 9, 2018.
Source: Universal Pictures [via THR]
