Universal’s Fifty Shades Darker refused to submit to No. 2 yesterday, earning an estimated $3.9 million, which is $400K higher than what the industry was expecting. Current cume for the sequel stands at $50.6M.
However, on Valentine’s Day today, the James Foley-directed movie is projected to post orgasmic sales with many seeing $12M-plus.
A double-digit take for the E.L. James sequel is completely within reach: The last time Valentine’s Day fell on a Tuesday was in 2012, and that saw another female-skewing title, The Vow, embracing $11.6M. That daily take repped 28% of the pic’s then-$41M opening weekend. Another reason why many expect a big day for Fifty Shades Darker is that a bulk of its advance tickets sales (which have been outpacing The Lego Batman Movie by 2-to-1) are for today.
Two years ago, the lovers’ holiday fell on a Saturday, and goosed Fifty Shades Of Grey‘s second-day take by 21% versus Friday with $36.8M. That’s unprecedented considering that female-skewing pics are typically frontloaded. The first installment also pulled in more couples on Valentine’s Day, while opening day was largely comprised of women.
It comes as no surprise to see decent business for Fifty Shades Darker during the weekdays: It’s an older adult-skewing title (Screen Engine/ComScore’s PostTrak reports 77% females, 70% over 25), and that crowd also prefers to dodge weekend crowds at the multiplex. Over the weekend, PostTrak observed that packs of women turned out in bulk over couples: 50% went with friends, while 36% brought a date.
Women, of course, love this movie more than men: On CinemaScore, the ladies gave Fifty Shades Darker an A-, while men slapped it with a B-. Ditto on PostTrak: Women gave Christian Grey an 82% positive to guys’ 66%.
