50 Shades demand brings more screenings

Published Feb 12, 2015

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Tickets to the screening of the erotic movie Fifty Shades of Grey have sold like hot cakes, forcing Ster-Kinekor to open an extra cinema at every one of its sites across the country.

Audiences have waited in anticipation since the announcement of a film version of the best-seller.

The storyline has been a hot topic in workplaces, restaurants and even lecture theatres.

Tonight’s screening is a pre-release show.

Ster-Kinekor marketing executive Doug Place said that due to increased demand for tickets, the company would open more screens for the pre-release of the film this evening.

“The screenings will have staggered starts from about 8pm. Tickets are already selling fast for these extra screenings and we strongly advise the public to book their tickets online to avoid disappointment.

“This is the widest Ster-Kinekor opening of a film in the company’s history. Pre-sales for Fifty Shades of Grey are breaking records, and have surpassed previous title holders such as Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 and The Avengers,” said Place.

He said Fifty Shades of Grey was the second in a series of major titles that were expected to make 2015 the biggest box office year in cinema history. The first was Taken 3, which released in commercial and IMAX cinemas last month.

Fifty Shades carries a 16 LNS age restriction and the running time is 125 minutes.

Place said the movie was the perfect film for a special Valentine’s Day date.

However, British novelist and screenwriter Amy Jenkins has slammed the movie, saying it promoted woman abuse.

She said domestic violence campaigners in the US had called for a boycott of the film, “asking moviegoers to spend the cost of tickets on a donation to women’s shelters instead”.

Jenkins said that in the story, a woman let a man beat her “out of love” and was supposedly empowered by submitting – all wrapped up in a great big toxic fantasy of wealth and glamour.

Defending the movie, director Sam Taylor-Johnson said: “There will always be humourless people in the world.”

The film is based on EL James’s erotic romance novel.

It is about the relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steele and business magnate Christian Grey. The novel made waves because of its focus on explicit erotic scenes.

The film has been banned in Kenya.

 

The Star

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