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Fifty Shades of Grey movie trailer enjoys biggest online film launch of all-time

Over 100 million people watched the teaser clip in its first week of release

Jess Denham
Wednesday 06 August 2014 06:58 EDT
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Jamie Dornan as playboy billionaire Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey
Jamie Dornan as playboy billionaire Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey (Universal)

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The trailer for Fifty Shades of Grey enjoyed the biggest online teaser launch ever, notching up more than 100 million views it in its first week of release.

Fans around the world tuned in to see Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson get steamy in the movie adaptation of EL James bestselling erotic novel, about the relationship between BDSM-loving billionaire Christian Grey and infatuated college student, Anastacia Steele.

The two-and-a-half minute clip officially debuted on 24 July, after Beyoncé dropped a shorter, unannounced version five days earlier to 14 million followers on her Instagram feed.

The pop star’s exclusive, sexy remix of “Crazy In Love” features on the film’s soundtrack.

Twitter recorded 98,000 mentions of Fifty Shades per hour at its peak, while the movie trended highest on Google in the UK, the US, Canada, France and Germany.

The trailer sparked outrage from US conservative groups concerned that the film glamorises sexual violence towards women.

Morality in Media criticised the movie for “telling the public (especially youth) that humiliation, degradation and torture in sex is normal”.

Producer Michael De Luca said recently that fans can expect an “intense and erotic love story” that will stay faithful to the book without being “gratuitous or exploitative”.

The Fifty Shades novels have sold over 100 million copies to date and stand as one of the biggest and fastest-selling series of all time.

Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, Fifty Shades of Grey hits UK cinemas on 13 February 2015, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Rita Ora, Jennifer Ehle, Luke Grimes, Marcia Gray Harden and Eloise Mumford also star.

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