“50 Shades of Grey,” took the world by storm when millions of women began reading the books and talking endlessly about a man by the name of Christian Grey. Suddenly mousy brown hair, meek personalities and dominating masters in red rooms were all the rage; and then the movie came out. There were those unhappy with casting, thrilled with casting, unsure of casting and not entirely positive how producers would turn a pornographic book into a relatively theater-friendly movie. Now that the world is aware how it works on the big screen and now that the new 30-second teaser for “Fifty Shades Darker,” was released, women are anticipating the release of the newest movie.
Of course, the trailer had nothing new to show. All we know at this point is that the movie is going to hit theaters sometime in February 2017 – likely around Valentine’s Day as it did in 2015. Fans are waiting breathlessly for new information to come out, and we have a few things you didn’t already know to pique your curiosity and capture your attention.
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Rope Sales are Through the Roof
Pre-Fifty there would have been some raised eyebrows and suspicions if people were buying rope at the sheer numbers that they are buying it now. This book has caused rope sales to go through the roof as the kinkiest of the kinky are creating their own red rooms and using their own dirty minds to re-create the intimate scenes from the books and movies. Ropes have never sold as quickly or in as many numbers as they are now; and it’s been likened to a desire to be more like the couple in this book. So we hope that’s what it’s for and there is not a staggering number of new hostages out there.
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There’s A Cocktail Inspired by The Books and Movie
At the Heathman Hotel, you might recognize that name, there is a new Fifty Shades-inspired cocktail that drinkers can order. It’s called Fifty Shades of Gin, and it’s available at the bar. It’s $12 for one cocktail, and the bar has so far exceeded $20,000 in sales of just this one drink. It’s become the most famous drink on the menu, and people will actually travel to this hotel from across the country and the world to order the drink. It’s big.
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J.K. Rowling Doesn’t Care for the Books
She is the ‘other’ most famous author of our generation as she is the creator of Harry Potter. For many years, it was all about her and what her books were up to and how her movies were performing. When it comes down to it, though, she’s not someone who will make up a story about how much she enjoys a book just to please another author. She famously said that she is “not wildly,” a believer in the fact that she was missing out on something amazing by not reading the books or watching the movies.
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The Books are Banned in Many Libraries
Because of the very graphic detail and nature of these books, there are a number of locations that have taken it upon themselves to go ahead and ban the books from local libraries. While you probably want to download it from the privacy of your own home to be sure, you will certainly not find that there are copies of any of the three books from this trilogy in the country of Brazil, or in libraries in Florida, Georgia and Wisconsin. They’re banned for life.
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The Book Had A Limited Marketing Budget
When the book was first released in 2012, E.L. James had a very limited marketing budget to work with. Her publishers wanted the book to do well, obviously, but they did not have it in their budget to do any major marketing. They relied very heavily on word of mouth reviews, recommendations and the not-so-surprising ladies book club recommendations to begin rolling in. Surprisingly, these things worked well for the author and her books sold quickly.
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It Replaced the Bible
This is something that bothers a number of people. In hotel rooms across the world, guests find Bibles in their drawers. These are Gideon Bibles left by a group that wants you to take the Bible home if you haven’t one of your own. They provide them free of charge in hopes that you will find a relationship with God. However, in Britain one hotel has decided to replace the Bible with these books. The Damson Dene Hotel now has copies of “Fifty Shades,” in their drawers instead of copies of the Bible. It’s safe to say that this probably does not go over well everywhere.
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E.L. James is Amazon’s Best-Selling Author
Thanks to the sales of these three books, this relatively unknown at the time author became the best-selling on Amazon, surpassing Harry Potter’s author. With the limited marketing budget we mentioned above, this came as a huge shock to many, though not to E.L. James. The book was one the author was particularly proud of and had no doubt it would sell quickly and rather well.
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Everyone Wanted the Movie
The books were released not too long before every single movie studio in Hollywood began to ask for the rights to make the film. E.L. James knew she wanted to turn her books into a movie, she just did not know which company she wanted to give the rights to by selling them, so she took her time in making her decision. She ultimately went with Universal Pictures, and she chose the men who produced “The Social Network,” to make her books into a famous movie.
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The Books Have Spawned Dozens of Parodies
Fifty Shades of Oy Vey, Fifty Shames of Earl Grey and many more are just a few of the shameless titles that have been released as a way of mocking these books. These parodies are meant to poke fun and to make people laugh, and that they do. Each one is more hilarious than the next, and the authors are even coming up with names that they can spin to sound like E.L. James’ name so that they can gain even more fame and notoriety for the books.
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Casting Was Difficult
There was a long list of actors and actresses that the world wanted to see cast as Christian and Ana, but only a few were chosen. Everyone was pretty upset that Vampire Diaries star Ian Somerhalder was not chosen for the role of Christian with his bright blue eyes and his smoky, smoldering gaze. The world seemed to want him more than anyone, but the producers, directors and the author of the book had someone else in mind from the start. Ryan Gosling was chosen, but the script did not interest him.
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Charlie Hunnam Turned Down the Role of Christian
When E.L. James decided that Charlie Hunnam would maek the best Christian Grey, she made the announcement with pride and excitement. The world seemed to be all right with her choice, knowing that they would fall in love with him when he was in character. Unfortunately, he turned down the role before he was cast. He almost did not take the role, worried that it would ruin his reputation and cause a few conflicts with his job. He turned it down, but he was persuaded to reconsider the role and ultimately accepted the job.
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The National Center on Sexual Exploitation Hates the Movie
To be fair, the center also hates the book. They state that it exploits abusive relationships by glamorizing them and making them look as if they are the type of relationships that are healthy and desirable. These are women who are being used, abused and treated poorly, and these centers want them to know that this type of relationship where a man provides alcohol to make a woman feel more comfortable and then essentially tells her what to do whether she wants it or not is not acceptable.
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The Books Caused Binge Drinking
There are a number of people who believe that this book and these movies are dangerous, and one such group is the Journal of Women’s Health. The group performed a study back in 2014 that found shocking information that is related to this movie, and there are a number of people upset over the findings for very good reason. According to the study, the women and young girls who read this book were far more likely to participate in binge drinking than those who did not read the books.
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Charlie Hunnam Isn’t Christian Grey
If you are wondering why Charlie Hunnam accepted the role of Christian Grey after turning it down yet he is actually not the man who plays Christian Grey in the movie, then you’re not alone. Jamie Dornan is actually the actor who plays Grey. Hunnam was staring in a series on FX called Sons of Anarchy, and his schedule for shooting the show and his contract with the series prevented him from being able to take on the role of Christian Grey, and he was quite unhappy about that. Jamie Dornan was offered the role, took it on and performed quite well – pun not intended.
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A Pornographic Version was Considered
To be very clear, it was not considered or permitted by either the author or the studio that now owns the rights to this book-turned-movie. However, a company by the name of Smash Studios made the decision to see about making a pornographic version of the movie – as it might seem they should – but they were told no. Universal fought the idea, telling the company no and ultimately making it possible for them to halt production and make sure it never came out on film. They had too much money riding on this real movie to bother with something like this.
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