As Dakota Johnson returns to the big screen, Screen Rant‘s own Pitch Meeting series is looking back at its Fifty Shades of Grey episode. The 2015 movie served as an adaptation of E.L. James’ novel of the same name exploring the relationship between the titular sadist CEO and journalist Anastasia Steele, played by Johnson. Though critically panned, the movie was a box office smash, grossing nearly $570 million against its $40 million production budget and launching a trilogy based on James’ subsequent novels.
In honor of the release of Johnson’s latest movie Madame Web, the latest episode of Screen Rant‘s Pitch Meeting series is taking a look back at its Fifty Shades of Grey analysis. The episode combines the original video poking fun at the entire trilogy’s flaws, namely its lackluster stories and poor writing, as well as host Ryan George reflecting on his jokes, in which he does at least invite viewers to watch the trilogy with a group of friends for its unintentional hilarity in the same vein as The Room.
Fifty Shades Started An Unfortunate Trend For Johnson
At the time of the movie’s development and release, the Fifty Shades of Grey novels broke multiple sales records, including becoming the fastest-selling paperback of all time in the United Kingdom. Much like its source inspiration of the Twilight franchise, studios were keen to quickly capitalize on this popularity by adapting the novels for the screen. The problem with this was, rather than looking to improve on the negatively received aspects of the novel, the movies decided to lean into them in the hopes of bringing in the various readers.
While this proved a successful approach as far as box office receipts go, as the trilogy went on to gross over $1.32 billion worldwide, it also started an unfortunate trend for Johnson’s career. Prior to the Fifty Shades trilogy, she had found steady acclaim starring in the likes of David Fincher’s The Social Network, the 21 Jump Street movie revival and The Five-Year Engagement. Following the trilogy, however, Johnson has seen a far more mixed output, with seven of her 19 subsequent releases landing “Fresh” ratings from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Check out the various scores below:
Title | Release Year | RT Critics Score |
|---|---|---|
Fifty Shades of Grey | 2015 | 25% |
Chloe & Theo | 2015 | 6% |
Black Mass | 2015 | 73% |
A Bigger Splash | 2015 | 89% |
How to Be Single | 2016 | 46% |
Fifty Shades Darker | 2017 | 11% |
Fifty Shades Freed | 2018 | 11% |
Bad Times at the El Royale | 2018 | 75% |
Suspiria | 2018 | 66% |
The Peanut Butter Falcon | 2019 | 95% |
Wounds | 2019 | 47% |
Our Friend | 2019 | 86% |
The High Note | 2020 | 71% |
The Lost Daughter | 2021 | 94% |
Am I OK? | 2022 | 79% |
Cha Cha Real Smooth | 2022 | 85% |
Persuasion | 2022 | 31% |
Madame Web | 2024 | 13% |
Though she has enjoyed some successes with the likes of The Peanut Butter Falcon and The Lost Daughter, it’s clear that Johnson’s role in Fifty Shades of Grey was only the start of her critical woes. Her most recent release, Madame Web, has been particularly troublesome for the star, netting both her worst Rotten Tomatoes score since the last Fifty Shades movie and the worst of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. With the star clearly having plenty of potential in her acting style, one can hpe that this trend begins to turn towards the positive side of things.
Fifty Shades of Grey
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- Release Date
- February 13, 2015
- Director
- Sam Taylor-Johnson
- Cast
- Jennifer Ehle , Dakota Johnson , Jamie Dorman , Marcia Gay Harden , Eloise Mumford , Victor Rasuk , Luke Grimes , Rita Ora
- Runtime
- 125 Minutes
- Writers
- Kelly Marcel
- Budget
- $40 Million
- Studio(s)
- Focus Features , Michael De Luca Productions , Trigger Street Productions
- Distributor(s)
- Universal Pictures
- Sequel(s)
- Fifty Shades Darker , Fifty Shades Freed
- Franchise(s)
- Fifty Shades of Grey
