It was already reported earlier that "Fifty Shades Darker," the sequel to the highly lucrative erotic drama in February, "Fifty Shades of Grey," will be launched in 2017 instead of 2016. However, new reports now claim that the second installment of the book-to-movie franchise is going to be "more of a thriller."
Rumor has it that the sequel will end up having a pulpy thriller tone that is pretty much in the vein of "Basic Instinct." Screen Rant reported that the movie may not attract as many new fans as the first one did since the sequel will not be a similar raunchy love story. Despite these concerns, Universal Pictures is reportedly not worried.
According to the report, the studio does not even have any plan of expanding the franchise's demographic appeal, particularly because doing so will have only very little business incentive. After all, "Fifty Shades of Grey" managed to reel in more than half a billion dollars in the global box office.
Moreover, Donna Langley, the chairwoman of Universal Pictures, revealed the studio's plans of building more lucrative franchises. Universal decided to forego joining today's trend of turning comic book stories to blockbusters - unlike every other big Hollywood studio in the industry - and opted to focus on coming up with fresh installments of blockbuster films such as "Jurassic Park" and "Bourne Identity" franchises.
It is only by taking advantage of these mega franchises, in addition to making sequels for films that have been relatively lucrative before such as "Ted 2" and "Pitch Perfect 2," that Universal can manage to stay afloat for the next couple of years.
The "Fifty Shades of Grey" franchise might not feature any but it did have a post-credits sequence, following the lead of other studios' comic book adaptations. The scene certainly built even more hype for the second installment.
Fans have become so antsy since news of a sequel was confirmed that the studio decided to release a teaser trailer for "Fifty Shades Darker" this early. The studio already previously leaked a photo of the tantalizing Christian Grey, played by Jamie Dornan, putting on a masquerade mask. In the story's signature fashion, the background music was patented heavy-breathing sounds, according to Vanity Fair.
The film's teaser trailer was released amid news that the movie has not found its official director as of yet. However, it was recently confirmed that the franchise got its official screen writer, Niall Leonard, who happens to be the husband of the story's writer, EL James.