‘Fifty Shades Freed’ Teases $9.1M From Overseas Box Office On First Day
February 8, 2018
‘Fifty Shades Freed’ Teases $9.1M From Overseas Box Office On First Day
As Universal’s Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy begins its climactic run, the third film in the series has whipped off to an early $9.1 million start at the international box office. Fifty Shades Freed is being teased out overseas, beginning with previews in 20 hubs and official starts in five markets through Wednesday. As other markets come on board through today and Friday, it will be at play in 57 total including France, Germany, the UK, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Japan. The franchise will cross $1B this weekend worldwide and $700M offshore.
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Continuing its predilection for the series, Germany made $2M in Freed previews Wednesday, dominating the market. This was the No. 1 offshore play on last year’s Fifty Shades Darker, and the No. 2 (after the UK) on Fifty Shades of Grey which had a showcase premiere berth at the Berlin Film Festival in 2015.
In France, the James Foley-directed threequel opened at No. 1 (official, not previews) with $1.5M to land on par with Fifty Shades Darker. The team, including leads Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, was on a freezing red carpet in Paris on Tuesday for the international premiere of a film that owes much to France — it was largely shot in the south. There’s competition here this weekend with Maze Runner: The Death Cure and Clint Eastwood’s The 15:17 to Paris also bowing. All films are likely to be down this weekend, however, as a cold snap has gripped the Hexagon, and rare snow in Paris is causing all kinds of headaches.
In the Netherlands, FSF tickled the all-time biggest Ladies Night Previews with $1.2M. That’s 15% ahead of Darker and grabs hold of a spot in the top single-day previews ever for the market.
Australia saw $1.1M in previews, on par with the previous film. In the Philippines, the official opening day was $300K to score the best launch so far of 2018, well ahead of Grey and Darker.
All in all, the critic-proof Fifty Shades Freed is projected to tie up between $80M-$90M internationally this weekend. Last year’s Darker bowed to $98.5M at today’s rates without previews, and to $105.6M with previews.
Traditionally, the top markets for the Fifty Shades series have been a mix of the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Brazil, and there’s little reason to think that will change this time around. We’ll keep tabs on the lovers as the weekend rolls along.