--- description: Beat February record previously held by 'Passion of the Christ' title: 'Fifty Shades of Grey' Ties Down Box Office Records image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39361af4fefbdb55/69877f5bcd1bba55796f5399/2434_d020_00195r.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Fifty Shades of Grey_ Ties Down Box Office Records by [Ariana Bacle / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Ariana Bacle / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 16, 2015 7:40 PM CUT  Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson in “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson in “Fifty Shades of Grey.”Chuck Zlotnick—Universal by [Ariana Bacle / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Ariana Bacle / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 16, 2015 7:40 PM CUT _Fifty Shades of Grey_ already took the crown for [biggest Valentine’s Day debut ever](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/15/box-office-update-fifty-shades-grey-takes-lead "undefined"), and now the erotic drama can add biggest Presidents Day debut ever to its list of honors: The book adaptation ended the four-day weekend with $94.4 million—over $30 million more than the previous record-holder, 2010’s _Valentine’s Day._ _Fifty Shades_ had a strong opening thanks to fans of the book, and thanks to the hype surrounding the film—one that people aren’t seeing thanks to its reviews. (The film has a [26 percent on Rotten Tomatoes](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fifty%5Fshades%5Fof%5Fgrey/ "undefined"), so it’s not exactly Oscar bait.) These factors helped give Sam Taylor-Johnson’s movie the biggest February debut yet: With an $85 milllion three-day total, _Fifty Shades_ just barely beat out previous record-holder _The Passion of the Christ,_ which made $83.9 million in 2004. ### Fifty Shades of Grey: TIME's Exclusive Portraits of the Cast and Director  Dakota Johnson (Anastasia “Ana” Steele) and Jamie Dornan (Christian Grey) photographed at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles on Jan. 13, 2015. Malerie Marder for TIME  Dakota Johnson (Anastasia “Ana” Steele) photographed at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles on Jan. 13, 2015. Malerie Marder for TIME  Sam Taylor-Johnson (director) photographed at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles on Jan. 13, 2015. Malerie Marder for TIME _Kingsman: The Secret Service_ didn’t make as much as _Fifty Shades,_ but it still had an impressive weekend. The Matthew Vaughn-directed action flick brought in $42 million over the four days and $36.2 over the three days—considerably more than Vaughn’s _Kick-Ass,_ a film also based on a relatively obscure comic that opened with $19.8 million in 2010. In other milestones, _American Sniper_ reached a big one this weekend: The Clint Eastwood-directed war movie crossed $300 million at the domestic box office after just a month in theaters. The Oscar-nominated film is now one of just 50 movies to cross the $300 million mark, and is on its way to climbing further up the list: So far, _Sniper_’s grossed an estimated $307.2 million domestically. **1\.** [**_Fifty Shades of Grey_**](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/10/fifty-shades-grey-ew-review "undefined") **_—_** **$94.4 million** **2\.** [**_Kingsman: The Secret Service_**](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/11/kingsman-secret-service-ew-review "undefined") **_—_** **$42 million** **3\.** **_The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water_** **— $40 million** **4\.** [**_American Sniper_**](http://www.ew.com/article/2014/12/25/american-sniper "undefined")**— $19.5 million** **5\.** [**_Jupiter Ascending_**](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/06/jupiter-ascending-review-lost-space "undefined")**— $10.7 million** [This article was originally published on _EW.com_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/16/box-office-report-fifty-shades-grey "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3711265/fifty-shades-of-grey-box-office-record-weekend/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3711265/fifty-shades-of-grey-box-office-record-weekend/"},"headline":"Fifty Shades of Grey Ties Down Box Office Records","datePublished":"2015-02-16T19:40:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:36.823Z","description":"Beat February record previously held by 'Passion of the Christ'","url":"https://time.com/3711265/fifty-shades-of-grey-box-office-record-weekend/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39361af4fefbdb55/69877f5bcd1bba55796f5399/2434_d020_00195r.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ariana Bacle / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39361af4fefbdb55/69877f5bcd1bba55796f5399/2434_d020_00195r.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Film Title: Fifty Shades of Grey","caption":"Film Title: Fifty Shades of Grey","creditText":"Chuck Zlotnick—Universal","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3711265/fifty-shades-of-grey-box-office-record-weekend/","name":"Fifty Shades of Grey Ties Down Box Office Records"}}]}] ```