UPDATE: Another new trailer was released earlier tonight and can be seen embedded below.
Fifty Shades of Grey may have been a commercial success, scoring a cool $571 million at the worldwide box office, but it certainly wasn’t an enjoyable watch. A disappointment in the eyes of fans and critics alike, no one particularly cared for it, but since this is Hollywood and money talks, we’re getting a sequel in the form of Fifty Shades Darker.
Set to invade theaters on February 10th, just in time for Valentine’s Day, there’ve been several changes behind the scenes and unfortunately, they don’t seem to be for the best. One of the biggest reasons that the first film turned out to be such a dud was because of the heavy involvement of author E.L. James. She constantly clashed with director Sam Taylor-Johnson and as a result, the final product was nothing but a bland, boring and watered down version of the story that fans had come to love.
For Fifty Shades Darker, Universal (seemingly having not learned their lesson) is keeping the author involved and has even brought on her husband, Niall Leonard, to write the script. Behind the camera is James Foley, replacing Taylor-Johnson (who had a terrible experience making the film). Whether that change will result in a better movie is still unknown, but seeing as E.L. James is once again heavily involved, we don’t have too much faith in the sequel.
Nevertheless, Universal is pushing on full steam ahead with the marketing campaign and today brings with it a brand new TV spot that teases some of the darker aspects of the sequel, as a string of Christian’s unhinged former flames begin to emerge onto the scene, threatening both Ana’s well-being and her once-ironclad relationship with Christian himself. Clunky dialogue and wildly over-the-top sex scenes ensue. It’s all set to “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” by Zayn and Taylor Swift, which will feature on the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack.
From the looks of it, the film will be sticking closely to the source material and as such, fans should know what to expect here. Admittedly, we don’t imagine this being much of a step up from the original, but given that the first trailer managed to rack up an incredible amount of views, there’s clearly still a lot of interest in the franchise. At the very least, the studio will probably make a healthy profit off of it.
Get ready to slip into something a shade darker – and hopefully a little more compelling? – this Valentine’s Day when Fifty Shades Darker slinks into theaters on February 10, 2017.
