The steamy movie version of “Fifty Shades of Grey” crossed the $400 million mark at the international box office Friday.
With the $165.5 million it has grossed in North America, the worldwide box office total for the R-rated adaptation of E.L. James’ erotic novel will top $566 million by Sunday, Universal said Saturday. That’s pretty good for a movie with a $40 million production budget, and at least one more sequel is in the works.
“Fifty Shades,” which stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, has now opened in every foreign market in which a release is planned.
As the studio prepares to close the box-office books on “Fifty Shades,” it will rank as its eighth-highest grossing movie ever. It is behind only “Jurassic Park’ ($1.04 billion), “Despicable Me “ ($975.2 million), “E.T.” ($798 million), “Fast & Furious 6” ($789 million), “Fast Five” ($630 million), “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” ($624.9 million) and “Mamma Mia” ($606 million).
The top-grossing territories for “Fifty Shades” are the U.K. and Ireland ($53.1 million), Germany ($41.9 million), France ($32.4 million), Brazil ($30 million) and Italy ($22.5 million).
A $55 million international gross on the film’s first Saturday made it the highest-grossing Valentine’s Day release ever, and it is Universal’s top-grossing R-rated release ever as well.
Director Sam Taylor-Johnson also made box office history with the film, which had the largest opening weekend for a female director, an $85.2 million three-day haul.
Taylor-Johnson will not return for a second film, nor will Kelly Marcel, who adapted the original. Universal is searching for a new writer and director and there is no release date set for “Fifty Shades Darker.”
Both Dornan and Johnson are contractually obligated to reprise their roles for the sequels, including a third potential film based on the James’ novel, “Fifty Shades Freed.”