Chattanooga Times Free Press

‘Fifty Shades Freed’ commands $38.8 million to top charts

- BY LINDSEY BAHR

LOS ANGELES — Newcomers such as “Fifty Shades Freed,” “Peter Rabbit” and “The 15:17 to Paris” breathed some fresh life into a marketplac­e that for weeks has been dominated by “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” “The Greatest Showman” and various Oscar contenders. But it’s all just setting the stage for “Black Panther,” which opens next week.

“Fifty Shades Freed” managed to take the top spot on the charts in North American theaters. Universal Pictures estimated Sunday the final chapter in the Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele saga earned $38.8 million over the weekend — down significan­tly from the first film’s $85.2 million debut and even the sequel’s $46.6 million opening, but enough to bump the threefilm franchise over $1 billion globally. Women once again made up the vast majority (75 percent) of the opening weekend audience.

“We are exhilarate­d with the results,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distributi­on. “To have a trilogy engineered primarily for a female audience that we were then able to broaden out into a billion-dollar franchise is just a fantastic result.”

The studio expects a healthy mid-week bump on Valentine’s Day and to serve as counter-programmin­g over the holiday weekend against “Black Panther.”

The steamy romance outdid other new competitor­s such as Sony’s CG and liveaction update of “Peter Rabbit,” featuring the voice of James Corden, and Clint Eastwood’s “The 15:17 to Paris,” starring the real men who thwarted an attack on a Parisbound train in the summer of 2015.

“Peter Rabbit,” which cost around $50 million to produce, hopped to second place

with a solid $25 million and an A- CinemaScor­e.

“The 15:17 to Paris” pulled into third place with $12.6 million. Eastwood’s dramatic thriller about the true story was not well-received by critics or audiences, who gave the film a poor B- CinemaScor­e.

Two films that just won’t quit rounded out the top five: “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” fell to fourth place with $9.8 million, and “The Greatest Showman” took fifth with $6.4 million.

Overall, the marketplac­e is still down around 1.8 percent for the year and around 27 percent from the same weekend last year, which comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabed­ian noted, saw the launch of “The Lego Batman Movie,” “Fifty Shades Darker” and “John Wick: Chapter 2,” all of which opened over $30 million.

But the box office will pick up next weekend with “Black Panther,” which some analysts are pegging for a $150 million start.

“This is the calm before the Marvel storm,” Dergarabed­ian said. “‘Black Panther’ is going to supercharg­e this marketplac­e when it opens later this week. I think it’s going to break records and spark a huge conversati­on.”

 ?? THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Jamie Dornan, left, and Dakota Johnson attend the world premiere of “Fifty Shades Freed” at Salle Pleyel in Paris on Tuesday.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Jamie Dornan, left, and Dakota Johnson attend the world premiere of “Fifty Shades Freed” at Salle Pleyel in Paris on Tuesday.

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