Fifty Shades Darker Trailer Notches Up More Views Than Even The Force Awakens

This week alone served as a pointed reminder of just how crucial a trailer reveal can be for warring Hollywood studios out to claim the biggest piece of the pie. Annabelle 2, for instance, summoned up its debut teaser just yesterday after teeing up an announcement via Twitter, while Fifty Shades Darker invited moviegoers back to the fold earlier in the week – but not before priming audiences with an enigmatic teaser.

It all comes down to fanning excitement, really, and the level of care, detail and strategizing that goes into each announcement can’t be overstated. It’s a method of approach that has now paid dividends for Universal, after the studio confirmed that that steamy trailer for James Foley’s sequel was viewed a record 114 million times in the first 24 hours after release, outpacing even Star Wars: The Force Awakens. For the sake of perspective, J.J. Abrams’ franchise revival pulled in 112 million across the same 24-hour period.

Digging a little deeper, Universal notes that those numbers represent views accumulated across digital platforms like Facebook and YouTube after the trailer landed at 8 AM PT. Overseas it was a similar story, with the Fifty Shades Darker trailer topping the charts across the UK (18.9 million views), Brazil (12.4 million), France (9.8 million), Mexico (6.8 million) and Italy (6 million).

Fifty Shades Darker, also starring Marcia Gay Harden, Jennifer Ehle, Luke Grimes, Rita Ora, Victor Rasuk, Eloise Mumford, Max Martini, Kim Basinger, and Bella Heathcote, will bow in theaters on February 10, 2017. It’ll be followed by the third and final installment into Focus Features’ erotic trilogy, entitled Fifty Shades Freed.