Weekend Box Office Report: 'Fifty Shades of Grey' Shines In Debut Weekend
By Bill Wine
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- With advance ticket sales through the roof, Fifty Shades of Grey, the erotic drama based on the runaway best-seller, ran away with the box-office crown for Valentine's Day and Presidents Day weekend, earning an estimated three-day total of $82-million on its debut.
In second place was the the new spy spoof, Kingsman: The Secret Service, starring Colin Firth. It took in $36-million on its opening weekend.
That dropped last weekend's leader, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, to third with $31-million, and the blockbuster, American Sniper, to fourth with another $16-million, boosting its cumulative total over the $300-million mark.
Overall, thanks largely to the opening of Fifty Shades of Grey, industry-wide totals were well above those of a year ago.
