Proving that the power of freaknastiness is real, Fifty Shades of Grey, slammed by critics pretty much across the board as a garbage movie, is now the highest grossing Presidents Day weekend debut of all time.
Fifty Shades brought in $81.7 million at the box office, according to the studios' Sunday morning estimates, easily surpassing the old record-holder, Valentine's Day, which debuted to $56.3 million back in 2010.
That also makes it the second best February debut ever (Passion of the Christ is No. 1), and puts it behind only Passion of the Christ, Matrix Reloaded and The Hangover Part II on the list of best R-rated debut weekends ever.
The movie cost only an estimated $40 million to make, so it's already hugely profitable and it seems like a safe bet that those planned Fifty Shades sequels are definitely going to happen now.
An estimated 68 percent of people who saw the movie this weekend were (freaknasty) women, Variety reported.
No. 2 was Kingsman: The Secret Service, which pulled in $35.6 million, while No. 3 was The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water ($30.5 million).
Jupiter Ascending continued its descent into straight-up bomb territory by adding only $9.4 million this weekend to its $32.5 million total. It cost a reported $176 million to make. Ouch.
[Via Variety]
