Fifty Shades of Grey movie breaks UK records after scoring biggest 18-rated opening ever

Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson proved a big box office pull this weekend

Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey has gone from domination in the bedroom to whipping up a frenzy at the box office after breaking the UK record for the biggest opening of an 18-rated film.

The movie adaptation of EL James’ bestselling erotic novel took a massive £4.6 million on Friday night, with cinema-goers flocking to see Jamie Dornan play BDSM-loving billionaire Christian Grey alongside co-star Dakota Johnson.

Sam Taylor Johnson’s film was equally popular state-side, scoring the highest-grossing Presidents Day Weekend opener in history with $81.7 million and becoming one of the biggest R-rated debuts of all-time.

The film was named the second-highest US February debut since 2004’s The Passion of the Christ, while also breaking the record for the biggest North American opener by a female director ever.

Fifty Shades is also on top internationally, earning an estimated $158 million overseas to bring its total to $239.7 million, Universal Pictures has said. That figure makes it the studio’s second biggest overseas opening, behind Fast and Furious 6’s £160.3 million debut, and the highest international R-rated opening ever.

“These are summer-style blockbuster numbers in February,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. “It had that whole sex thing going for it, it was edgy and it started a conversation.

“It went beyond being a girls’ night out movie and became a date night movie.”

Elsewhere, Colin Firth’s new spy adventure Kingsman: The Secret Service also performed well, as did children’s favourite The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (see above chart).