14 DAY TRIAL // Short on the heels of Universal’s announcement that E.L. James’ husband Niall Leonard will handle the script for the “Fifty Shades of Grey” sequel, “Fifty Shades Darker,” comes the official confirmation for the sequel and threequel.
Of course, everyone and their mamma must have known that the studio wouldn’t stop after just one film, especially since it was so successful, but for a while there, there were serious doubts about the fate of the franchise.
Sam Taylor-Johnson walked out after directing the first film because of ongoing disputes with James, who wants almost complete control over the way her books are brought to the big screen; Universal is trying to limit her influence; and leading stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson are holding back negotiations by asking for considerable raises.
As it turns out, all is well that ends well: Universal has picked the release dates for the other 2 films in the franchise, so “Fifty Shades Darker” will drop on February 10, 2017, while “Fifty Shades Freed” will come out on February 9, 2018.
That’s a longer wait than fans were hoping for, but it probably couldn’t be avoided for the reasons mentioned above.
Word online has it that the longer the wait, the lower the chances for the sequel to top the original film, which broke records for February box office. One of the reasons that it was such a big hit was curiosity, because even those who had not read the books watched it to see what the fuss was all about. Even “haters” got tickets for the premiere.
The question of whether the “Fifty Shades” phenomenon can hold momentum like “The Twilight Saga” that inspired it will be settled in 2017.