'Fifty Shades of Grey' will have the best President's Day Weekend ever at the box office
The adaptation of E.L. James' BDSM novel about a naive virgin and a billionaire playboy took in $81.7 million opening weekend.
Analysts expected the movie to open north of $60 million. The movie cost an estimated $40 million to make.
That's the second-largest opening weekend ever in February.
The only movie that made more was 2004's "Passion of the Christ," which debuted to $83.8 million.
That number also makes "Fifty Shades" the fifth-largest opening weekend for an R-rated movie behind "The Matrix Reloaded," "American Sniper," "The Hangover Part II," and "Passion."
By the end of the four-day weekend, "Fifty Shades" is predicted to make at least $90 million, which would easily give it the largest President's Day weekend at the box office. Currently, 2010's "Valentine's Day" holds that record with $63.1 million.
We wouldn't be surprised to see a final higher number for "Fifty Shades" over the four-day weekend.
Not only was the film one of Fandango's top advance ticket sellers of all time, but it was also the ticket service's top February pre-seller and the biggest R-rated ticket-seller for the company.
Overall, the movie has made $239.7 million worldwide so far.
And it wasn't just "Fifty Shades" that had a good weekend.
The other big release this weekend, "Kingsman: The Secret Service" brought in $35 million. Analysts expected the movie to make a smaller haul in the lower $20 millions.
The Fox film starring Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson cost $81 million to produce.
Last weekend's SpongeBob Squarepants movie, "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water," had a strong second week with another $35.6 million. That movie also beat analyst expectations when it opened to $55 million.