If you didn't know already, Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) has become a world-wide sensation and in incredibly successful IP, breaking numerous records! These include:
- Highest-grossing film of 2015, ranking in over $529 million worldwide!
- Highest-grossing film of 2015 in the UK!
- It's the third highest-grossing film ever directed by a female director (Sam Taylor-Johnson)!
- The biggest film launch by a female director!
- The fifth highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, worldwide!
- The highest-grossing R-rated film in the of all time in the UK!
- The fastest selling R-rated film in the US, according to ticket site Fandango!
- The film's distributor, Universal Studios, saw its highest ever opening weekend take in the UK, France, Russia and Brazil!
- The US Gross makes it the second biggest February opening ever!
- The trailer was the most viewed trailer on Youtube in 2014!
- The trailer is now the most viewed trailer on Youtube, in the site's entire history!
- The book on which the story is based, by E. L James, is the best-selling book in the UK, making over 5.3 million in sales!
- It created a 7.3% jump in sex-related products, a category including toys, videos and books!
- It's rated one of the worst rated films of 2015!
Wait, what? Repeat that last one... one of the worst rated films of 2015?? According to the film's Imdb page, ranking in a poor 4.2 score on the site, from over 110-thousand votes... So, how has this thing got so big (pun intended) if the majority of us thinks its a terrible film?
Let's find out!
Just in case you didn't already know, this film is an adaptation of the sadomasochistic erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey (2001) featuring a relationship between the virgin student Anatasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and the young rich businessman man, Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan). This best selling book was created by the female author E. L James, who wrote the novel as Twilight (2008) fan fiction, but later changed the story to make it her own property. After it became such a literary success and books flew off shelves, with an estimate 5.3 million sales in the UK, filmmakers flocked to the author, offering to buy the rights to this goldmine!
Heres the trailer, if you're really interested:
The problem with the success of the novel is that no one really seems to know exactly how it got so popular, as CNN explains "It's a formula that's been tried and tested in countless erotic novels in recent memory: A rich, handsome man charms a young innocent with lavish gifts and bold declarations of desire" (CNN, Grinberg, 2012) So, what was so different about this novel? This type of explicit content has been in our restricted section for many years before the release of this book, and What Culture has even written an entire article about works of erotica that came before FSOG! So what was so different with this novel?
Well, apart from the fact that sex really does sell, it it appears that FSOG simply got lucky, entering mainstream culture at the right time, surrounding itself with controversial media reports, creating a hype around the book. The novel appeared in numerous racy headlines and widespread of stories including Raymod Hodgson, 31, turned up at the home of his girlfriend Emma McCormick and squirted her with brown sauce because she had been reading Fifty Shades of Grey, and Woman Divorces Husband for Failing to Re-Enact 50 Shades. These headlines were enough to grab anyones attention, creating more and more interest in the novel, and so everyone was talking about it, perpetuating the sales.
With the prior success of the book, you could then argue that the success of the 2015 film adaptation could be due to a pre established audience. Although this might be the case, it's definitely worth mentioning that the enormous record breaking success of the film could be largely attributed to the FSOG marketing team and their well-thought strategy to attract large audiences. As Graser from Variety explains, the "marketing team has been crafting the strategy for nearly three years, after conducting research on what its target audience would be interested in seeing" (Graser, 2015). In this sense, the team took into account what initially attracted audiences to the book, recreating these methods and developing them further. These marketing strategies included:
- Over a year prior to the release of the film, posters appeared using memorable quotes from the book, such as the phrase "Mr. Grey will see you now".
- The soundtrack was created with the aid popular artists, including Beyonce and The Rolling Stones, who are increasingly popular with wider audiences.
- The video for the teaser trailer was premiered on Beyonce's Instragram, on the 24th of July 2014, allowing the marketing team to reach a wider audience via different media platforms.
- Jessica Simpson posed in her own FSOG shoot, posted to her Instagram.
- A music video for The Weekend, entitled "Earned It", featured lead actress, Dakota Johnson, in full dominatrix style.
- The marketing team also took advantage of the 71% female users of Pinterest, promoting the film via extensive photo boards on the site.
- The actor's were often featured on Television shows over the world, promoting the film in advance to different cultures and audiences.
- Segments on Television shows, featuring raunchy themes from the film, were common occurrence, such as This Morning's controversial Bondage for Beginners segment.
With all of this in mind, Fifty Shades of Grey was geared up for success, with a huge following on different media platforms, such as Facebook's official page having more than 8.5 million likes.
So what went wrong with the ratings?
It appears that the audiences who previously were fans of the novels were disappointed with the lack of erotica within the film. Although still rated R, the film had appeared to be softened down to accommodate wider audience's tastes, as Universal "knew that the S&M elements would be considered too taboo for some moviegoers and most licensing partners, who typically steer clear of R-rated properties" (Graser, 2015). So, the book's established audiences had fallen in love with the book due to its heavily explicit content, and they had gone to watch an adaptation of the story which was softcore. In fact, the film has been further criticised due to delayed gratification, as the first sex scene within the film happens after 40 minutes, according to the Independant.
Nonetheless, despite these critical acclaims, there is no doubt that this film is a financial success for the entertainment industry, as they have discovered the potential for female audiences who have a hunger for raunchy sex stories. With this in mind, it's likely that this will mean a change for the film industry, as we will see more explicit R-rated films geared towards the female audience. Universal also owns the rights to the next two books in the Fifty Shades trilogy, and although they are still due to confirm whether these books will be adapted for film, it's pretty much guaranteed they will do so considering the enormous financial success of this film.
References and Bibliography:
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Arnett, George. 'Record-Breaking Opening Weekend For Fifty Shades Of Grey Film'. the Guardian. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
BBC News,. 'Marvel TV Shows To Debut On Netflix'. N.p., 2013. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
Bloom, Charlie, and Linda Bloom. 'What's So Special About Fifty Shades Of Grey? It's Not Just About The Sex'. The Huffington Post. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
Bondage For Beginners | This Morning. 2015. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey) (From The "Fifty Shades Of Grey" Soundtrack). 2015. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
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Mail Online,. 'Fifty Shades Of Grey Has More Bad Reviews But Dakota Johnson Impresses'. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
McKay, Hollie. 'Will The Success Of 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' Lead To More Raunchy Flicks?'. Fox News. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
mirror,. 'Fifty Shades Of Brown Sauce: Reader Attacked With Sauce By Angry Boyfriend'. N.p., 2012. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
Parsons, Tony. 'We've All Been Spanked: How Fifty Shades Of Grey Became The Most Successful Book Ever... And What That Says About Us'. mirror. N.p., 2012. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
Pinterest,. 'Pinterest'. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
Singh, Anita. '50 Shades Of Grey Is Best-Selling Book Of All Time'. Telegraph.co.uk. N.p., 2012. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
The Independent,. 'Fifty Shades Of Grey Cinema Goers Are Getting 'Restless', But Not For The Reason You Think'. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
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