After months of bad jokes and eye-rolling from the Internet hive mind, "50 Shades of Grey" has arrived and it’s just as huge as everyone predicted.

Any movie adaptation of a book that sold hundreds of millions of copies is going to open big, even if that book/movie in question is a BDSM quasi-romantic drama that has as many fervent detractors as it does admirers.

But it was a solid week at the box office overall, with the other new release, "Kingsman: The Secret Service," holding its own against a movie that may very well be one of the biggest releases of the year.

FilmWeekendTo Date
150 Shades of Grey$81.7 million$81.7 million
2Kingsman: The Secret Service$35.6 million$35.6 million
3The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water$30.5 million$93.7 million
4American Sniper$16.5 million$304.1 million
5Jupiter Ascending$9.4 million$32.6 million
6Seventh Son$4.2 million$13.4 million
7Paddington$6.5 million$114.3 million
8The Imitation Game$3.5 million$79.7 million
9The Wedding Ringer$3.4 million$59.7 million
10Project Almanac$2.7 million$19.6 million

"50 Shades of Grey" opened with a stunning $81 million, a number that would be hugely impressive for your typical blockbuster. However, for an R-rated drama with no major stars and tons of kinky sex, it’s unheard of.

Even more importantly, it’s the biggest opening of all time for a film directed by a woman, which will hopefully put another crack in Hollywood’s stupid glass ceiling.

To a lot of people, this movie is a big joke, but that didn’t stop fans (and curious non-fans who wanted to see what the fuss is all about) from flocking to their local theaters in droves. Still, response (from fans, critics and normal people alike) has been all over the place.

Can "50 Shades of Grey" build on this strong opening? If it takes a huge tumble next week, which is very possible, it may have to fight to get to $200 million.

Despite the overwhelming force of its chief competition, the tongue-in-cheek action comedy "Kingsman: The Secret Service" opened with a strong $35 million.

That’s not bad at all for an R-rated, gleefully offensive and ultra-violent movie starring Colin Firth, a man not known for leading action films. Compared to "50 Shades of Grey," the reaction to this movie has been a little more positive, and the wildly transgressive content of the film’s second half already has people talking. If word of mouth picks up, it could have a shot at $100 million or more. Then again, word of mouth may only spread the news of how downright bizarre and misanthropic this thing is. Let’s wait and see what happens next week.

In third place, "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water" took the expected drop from its huge opening weekend, grossing $30 million. No one is complaining though: with $93 million collected so far, the film has already exceeded many expectations in its first 14 days. $150 million is a sure thing at this point, but it could go higher if other family-friendly releases fail to take off in the weeks ahead.

In fourth place, "American Sniper" grossed $16 million, pushing it across a massive milestone. Yes, with $304 million grossed so far, Clint Eastwood’s war drama has joined the 300 Club and it’s not done yet. It’s still doing well enough to keep playing for at least the next month and it will surely become the highest grossing film released in 2014.

But all is not well in this week’s top 10.

"Jupiter Ascending" and "Seventh Son" continued to bomb spectacularly, grossing a dismal $9 million and $4 million respectively. This was expected for both, but it hurts a lot more for "Jupiter Ascending," which cost a lot more and featured far more respected talent behind the camera. It won’t even make it to $50 million.

As for the final stretch, "Paddington" continued to pull off the quiet sleeper hit thing, and "The Imitation Game" finally began to slow down with nearly $80 million in the bank, "The Wedding Ringer" began to wind down as a modest success, and "Project Almanac" prepared to exit the top 10 with a big shrug.

Source: ScreenCrush

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