Opening: Three-Film Franchise and American Theatres

opening: Fifty Shades Freed managed to take the top spot on the charts in North American theatres, according to CTV. Universal Pictures estimated Sunday that the final chapter in the Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele saga earned US 38.8 million over the weekend -- down significantly from the first film's 85.2 million debut and even the sequel's 46.6 million opening, but enough to bump the three-film franchise over 1 billion globally. But it's all just setting the stage for Black Panther, which opens next week. Women once again made up the vast majority 75 per cent of the opening weekend audience. To have a trilogy engineered primarily for a female audience that we were then able to broaden out into a billion-dollar franchise is just a fantastic result. We are exhilarated with the results, said Jim Orr, Universal's president of domestic distribution. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.