Will 'Fifty Shades Darker' Outperform Its Predecessor?

When Fifty Shades of Grey debuted two years ago, its huge financial success at the box office was kind of a surprise and kind of not. The book on which the movie was based had been a bestseller, but the movie had so much trouble during production, its success was anything but guaranteed. Its sequel, however, has to deal with the first film's success, and it's looking like the new movie probably won't measure up.

Fifty Shades of Grey earned $85 million in its opening weekend, a very impressive take for a film opening in the middle of February. It went on to earn $571 million worldwide and was the year's seventeenth highest-grossing film domestically. Pre-release tracking suggests that Fifty Shades Darker won't do nearly that well.

Tracking has the sequel earning between $35 million and $40 million over its opening weekend, which will begin just before the Valentine's Day holiday. That is, of course, less than half the first film's opening-weekend gross.

What's the difference between the two films? For one thing, EL James, the author of the much-maligned Shades of Grey books, had more creative control this time around, and she has never been praised for her story-telling skills. It's also been a long time since one of the books has been at the top of the bestseller lists, so the franchise isn't getting much buzz this year.

Trailers for the sequel also suggest that the movie might be ditching much of its predecessor's kinky edge, which was the hook that drew attention to the books in the first place. It could be that this is resulting in a movie that still feels too kinky for strait-laced moviegoers but that has lost the spark that initially got the attention of more adventurous viewers.

Whatever the reason, it looks as if Fifty Shades Darker will be a success, but not nearly as big a success as its predecessor.