'Fifty Shades Darker' Opens Strong on Thursday
by EG
Fans of Fifty Shades Darker couldn't wait to see the new installment in the steamy romance franchise. The movie opened strong in Thursday-night previews, but it's expected to cool over the weekend and eventually take second place to The Lego Batman Movie.
Fifty Shades Darker took in $5.8 million on Thursday. That's an impressive opening, but it's well behind the $8.6 million its predecessor earned on its first night. Darker is expected to take in $35 to $40 million over the weekend, about half the opening-weekend take of the first Fifty Shades movie.
The Lego Batman Movie earned only $2.2 million on Thursday. That's not surprising, given that family-oriented movies do better on Saturday on Sunday when kids are out of school. Batman's Thursday take was also much higher than that of its predecessor, 2014's The Lego Movie.
Romantic, female-targeted movies like Fifty Shades Darker tend to do their best business early and ease off as the weekend wears on. So even with its strong opening-night performance, the movie is still not exceeding expectations.
Keanu Reeves' John Wick: Chapter 2 also earned $2.2 million on Thursday. At this point, it's predicted to take third place for the weekend behind Batman and Darker.