“Fifty Shades Darker,” this February’s sequel to the softcore S&M blockbuster “Fifty Shades Of Grey,” wasn’t quite a hit the size of its predecessor — which would have been hard, given that the first movie took in a massive $600 million — but even with the sequel slump, it was undeniably profitable with its nearly $400 million haul.
Even if the film had tanked, it would have been too late — the third film in the series was shot more or less back-to-back with the second, and will hit theaters on the traditional February date for the franchise. “Fifty Shades Freed” promises to wrap up the series with its central couple, Christian and Anastasia (Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson) getting married, only for danger to rear its head with the reemergence of her vengeful boss (Eric Johnson).
James Foley is again directing from a script by Niall Leonard, the husband of ‘Fifty Shades’ creator E.L. James, and Kim Basinger, Max Martini, Luke Grimes, Rita Ora and Marcia Gay Harden among the cast members returning, and you can get a first glimpse of the movie with the new teaser trailer that Universal just dropped.
“Fifty Shades Darker” succeeded only in making Sam Taylor-Johnson’s original look like a masterpiece, but that’s only partly the fault of the filmmakers — the sequels are so poorly plotted that it slightly beggars belief, and that’s sadly likely to be the case with the third film too.
Still, Johnson’s usually worth the price of admission and the trailer suggests this will deliver on the core elements that have always attracted the devotees — incredibly old-fashioned wish-fulfillment fairy-tale romance with some fairly tame BDSM sex.
The film opens on February 9th, the same day that the similarly sub-dom-themed “Peter Rabbit” hits theaters.
