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Retailfifty shades of grey

How Fifty Shades of Grey is bigger than Jesus

By
Benjamin Snyder
Benjamin Snyder
Managing Editor
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By
Benjamin Snyder
Benjamin Snyder
Managing Editor
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 17, 2015, 1:02 PM ET
Courtesy of Universal Pictures
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Looks like Fifty Shades of Grey is more popular than Jesus.

Monday estimates for Universal Focus’ Fifty Shades of Grey show the movie earned $85 million on its Valentine’s Day and President’s Day weekend debut. The racy romance movie topped the Passion of the Christ’s previous $83.8 million February weekend box office record, which it held since 2004, according to Deadline.

Notably, estimates from other sources stated that the movie failed to live up to Passion’s opening earnings. The New York Post, for example, cited an $81.7 million figure for Fifty Shades on Monday. Official numbers are due later this week.

While the adaptation of the erotic romance novel cashed in more than Mel Gibson’s movie about Jesus Christ’s last hours on earth, it’s not Universal’s best weekend opening ever. Both 2013’s Fast & Furious 6 ($97.4 million and 2011’s Fast Five ($86.2 million) made more.

The money earned by both Fifty Shades and Kingsman: The Secret Service helped lead 2015’s President’s Day weekend to historic highs, with a total of $247 million in tickets sold, according to Rentrak Theatrical, a company that tracks box office metrics. That’s larger than the previous record of $239.8 million in 2010.

Other hits this weekend that helped notch the record estimates? The SpongeBob Movie, American Sniper and Jupiter Ascending.

About the Author
By Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor
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Benjamin Snyder is Fortune's managing editor, leading operations for the newsroom.

Prior to rejoining Fortune, he was a managing editor at Business Insider and has worked as an editor for Bloomberg, LinkedIn and CNBC, covering leadership stories, sports business, careers and business news. He started his career as a breaking news reporter at Fortune in 2014.

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