Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley spoke at The Hollywood Reporter‘s annual Power Lawyers breakfast about the current state of her studio, and she brought up the upcoming sequel to Fifty Shades of Grey, titled Fifty Shades Darker, which she says will be “more of a thriller” than the previous film.
The erotically-charged romance Fifty Shades of Grey capitalized on it’s naughty-but-not-too-naughty aesthetic to the tune of $570 million worldwide and counting, although there was word of on-set conflict between director Sam Taylor-Johnson and author E L James over the sexual content in the adaptation and other issues.
“For the record, the movie we ended up making is exactly the movie I wanted to make and that the studio wanted to make and that our director wanted to make,” Langley stated of Taylor-Johnson, who along with screenwriter Kelly Marcel will not return for the sequel, which will be penned by James’ husband Niall Leonard.
“He actually did a draft that wasn’t credited on the first movie, and he did a really good job,” added Langley of Leonard.
Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson return as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, the second and third chapters based on the worldwide bestselling “Fifty Shades” phenomenon. Expanding upon the events set in motion in Fifty Shades of Grey, the films will again become the motion-picture events for Valentine’s Day 2017 and 2018. Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti, alongside E L James, the creator of the series, also return to produce.
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment recently announced that a Fifty Shades Darker tease will be available exclusively on the upcoming release of Fifty Shades of Grey on Digital HD on Friday, May 1st and on Blu-ray on Friday, May 8th. The teaser has already made its way online, however, and can be watched below.
