'Fifty Shades of Grey' Opening Weekend Box Office Collection: Sam Taylor-Johnson's Film Makes Earth-Shattering Business

Sam Taylor-Johnson's "Fifty Shades of Grey" has opened to an earth-shattering response as the movie made record business in the opening weekend.

In fact, the erotic-drama has performed better than the projection made by the studio itself. In the first weekend, the Hollywood movie has earned around $81.7 million (Friday-Sunday).

Universal Studios had expected "Fifty Shades of Grey" to make an approximate business of $60 million in the four-day weekend (Friday-Monday), reports LA Times. But the movie got extraordinary response from the audience, which helped it to make such amazing business.

"Fifty Shades of Grey" has created history by becoming the biggest Presidents Day and Valentine's Day grosser of all time. Earlier, the record was in the name of Garry Marshall's "Valentine's Day", which had made $56.3 million in its opening weekend in February 2010.

The movie has also found a place among the biggest R-rated debuts in history. It is in the fourth position after "The Matrix Reloaded", which is in the first position by making $91.8-million, "American Sniper" and "The Hangover Part II".

However, "Fifty Shades of Grey" failed to surpass the business of "The Passion of the Christ", which had grossed $83.9 million in February 2004.

It is estimated that "Fifty Shades of Grey" would cross $90 million by the end of its four-day weekend. As per the surveys, 68% of those who watched the movie were female and above the age of 25, says Variety.com.

The wide release with attractive promotions caught the attention of cine-goers; and this boosted the business of "Fifty Shades of Grey", trade experts say.

"Fifty Shades of Grey" stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan. The movie is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson. It is an erotic-drama movie, which is a screen adaptation of British author E. L. James' bestselling novel of the same name.