Fifty Shades Freed (film)

Fifty Shades Freed is a 2018 American erotic romantic drama film directed by James Foley and written by Niall Leonard, and based on E. L. James’s 2012 novel of the same name. It is the third and final installment in the Fifty Shades film series, following Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) and Fifty Shades Darker (2017). The film stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan as Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, respectively, and follows the couple as they marry, and must deal with Ana's former boss (Eric Johnson), who begins to stalk them.

Principal photography on Fifty Shades Freed began simultaneously with Darker in February 2016, in Paris and Vancouver. The film was released in the United States on February 9, 2018, including a limited IMAX release. It grossed $371 million worldwide, the lowest total of the series, and like its two predecessors received negative reviews, with criticism aimed at its screenplay and performances.

Plot
Newlyweds Christian and Anastasia are forced to cut their honeymoon short and return home after receiving news of a break-in at Christian's corporate headquarters. Some computer files were stolen and security camera tapes identify the perpetrator as Jack Hyde, Ana's former boss who was fired for sexual assault. Meanwhile, Ana is introduced to her new personal security team.

Christian surprises Ana with a new house and has hired an attractive architect, Gia Matteo, to rebuild it. Ana is annoyed when Gia openly flirts with Christian in Ana's presence. Ana privately threatens to fire Gia if she continues her flirting, forcing her to stop.

When Christian is away on a business trip, Ana disregards his wishes that she stay at home, and meets her friend, Kate Kavanagh, for a drink. Kate, who is dating Christian's older brother Elliot, confides that she suspects Elliot may be having an affair with Gia, who is also his business associate. When Ana returns home, she encounters Jack Hyde, who attempts to kidnap her. Ana's security team subdues him and he is arrested. After an argument with Christian about her night out with Kate, Ana berates Christian for being overly controlling and possessive and demands more freedom. Soon after, Christian surprises Ana with a trip to Aspen, bringing along Kate, Elliot, Mia, and José. Elliott proposes to Kate, who accepts. It is revealed that Gia was only helping Elliott choose the ring.

The newlyweds continue with their erotic sexual experimentation, but matters become complicated when Ana announces she is pregnant. Christian is deeply disturbed, saying he had other plans for their early years together. He leaves, going on a night-long drunken bender. After he returns, Ana discovers that Christian had texted and met his ex-lover and former BDSM dominant, Elena Lincoln. She becomes angry with Christian and locks herself in the playroom for the night. Christian searches for Ana in the morning and they continue arguing with Ana telling Christian how important the baby is for her.

Shortly after, Hyde, released on a $500,000 bond, phones Ana demanding a ransom for Mia, Christian's abducted sister. Hyde demands $5,000,000 in cash in two hours and threatens to kill Mia if his demands aren't met. He warns Ana to tell no one and to bring the money alone. Ana takes some money and a revolver from the house safe, then goes to the bank to withdraw the full amount. The suspicious bank manager calls Christian. He thinks Ana is leaving him but then notices the coincidence of Hyde's recent release, Mia's unknown whereabouts, and Ana's sudden large cash withdrawal. Hyde instructs Ana to get into a car parked in the alley and to hand over her phone to the driver to discard. Ana tricks Hyde by taking the bank manager's phone and slipping her own phone into the bag of money. She exits the back entrance to discover that the driver and Jack's accomplice is her co-worker, Liz.

Ana arrives at the drop-off site with the money. Hyde, psychotic and vengeful, attacks Ana and kicks her abdomen. Liz tries to stop Jack as Ana pulls out the revolver and shoots Hyde in the leg. Christian and his security team, who electronically tracked Ana's cell phone, arrive and apprehend Hyde and Liz. Ana blacks out as she hears Christian's voice.

Ana awakens three days later in the hospital with Christian at her side. Though angry at Ana's recklessness and still anxious about fatherhood, Christian realizes how important their baby is to her, and they reconcile. Christian's adoptive mother, Grace, assures Christian that Ana will not leave him. Ana returns home the next day. Christian's private investigator, Welch, has left a report showing that Christian and Hyde had shared the same foster family, though Christian has no memory of this. Hyde was vengeful over Christian being adopted by the wealthy Grey family instead of him. It is also learned that Hyde blackmailed Liz into being his accomplice. Christian and Ana also learn where Christian's birth mother is buried. They visit her grave and Christian lays flowers on it.

Eight months later, Christian and Ana have a son named Theodore and a year later Ana is pregnant with their second child.

Cast

 * Dakota Johnson as Anastasia "Ana" Grey
 * Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey
 * Eric Johnson as Jack Hyde, Ana's former boss and stalker.
 * Eloise Mumford as Katherine Kavanagh, Ana's best friend and Elliot Grey's fiancée.
 * Rita Ora as Mia Grey, adoptive daughter of Carrick Grey and Dr. Grace Trevelyan Grey, and younger sister of Christian and Elliot Grey.
 * Luke Grimes as Elliot Grey, older brother of Christian and Mia Grey, and Katherine's fiancé.
 * Victor Rasuk as José Rodriguez, one of Anastasia's friends.
 * Max Martini as Jason Taylor, Christian's bodyguard.
 * Jennifer Ehle as Carla May Wilks, Anastasia's mother.
 * Kim Basinger as Elena Lincoln, Christian's former dominant. (Unrated Version only)
 * Marcia Gay Harden as Grace Trevelyan Grey, Christian's adoptive mother.
 * Bruce Altman as Jerry Roach.
 * Arielle Kebbel as Gia Matteo, the architect recommended by Elliot Grey to design Anastasia and Christian's future home.
 * Callum Keith Rennie as Ray, Anastasia's former stepfather.
 * Robinne Lee as Ros Bailey, Christian's second in command.
 * Brant Daugherty as Luke Sawyer, Ana's bodyguard.
 * Amy Price-Francis as Liz Morgan, Jack's accomplice.
 * Tyler Hoechlin as Boyce Fox, popular author whose books are published by SIP.
 * Ashleigh LaThrop as Hannah, Ana's co-worker and friend.
 * Fay Masterson as Gail Jones, Christian's housekeeper.
 * Hiro Kanagawa as Detective Clark.

Production
Universal Pictures and Focus Features secured the rights to the trilogy in March 2012. The films were produced by Michael De Luca Productions. At a fan screening of the first film in New York City on February 6, 2015, director Sam Taylor-Johnson confirmed that the book sequels Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed would also be adapted, with the first sequel then set to be released in 2016. After the announcement, Taylor-Johnson told Digital Spy that "It's not my decision [to return], and I haven't been privy to any of the discussions." On November 12, 2015, TheWrap reported that James Foley would direct both sequels, which would be shot back-to-back in 2016, with Niall Leonard writing the script and Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti returning to produce, along with E. L. James and Marcus Viscidi. Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan were also set to return in the lead roles. On February 8, 2016, Arielle Kebbel was cast in the film to play Gia Matteo, a beautiful architect who is hired by Christian to build his home, and on February 12, 2016, Eric Johnson was cast as Jack Hyde, Ana's boss at SIP and stalker. On February 20, 2016, Brant Daugherty signed on to play Sawyer, the personal bodyguard for Anastasia.

Filming
In November 2015, Universal Studios announced that Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed would be shot back-to-back, with principal photography scheduled to commence in early 2016. Filming took place in Paris and Vancouver from February 9, 2016, to July 12, 2016, under the working title "Further Adventures of Max and Banks 2 & 3."

Release
Fifty Shades Freed was released on February 9, 2018, by Universal Pictures. A teaser trailer was released on September 10, 2017, and a theatrical trailer on November 6.

Home media
Fifty Shades Freed was released on digital on April 24, 2018, with a Blu-ray Disc, DVD and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release following on May 8, 2018.

Music
The lead single from the film's soundtrack, "For You", performed by Rita Ora and Liam Payne, was released on January 5, 2018. The soundtrack's track list was released on January 8, 2018, including artists Julia Michaels, Sia, Jessie J, Black Atlass, Ellie Goulding, Hailee Steinfeld, Dua Lipa, and Miike Snow on the 22-song album.

Box office
Fifty Shades Freed grossed $101 million in the United States and Canada, and $270.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $371.2 million, against a production budget of $55 million.

In the United States and Canada, Fifty Shades Freed was released alongside Peter Rabbit and The 15:17 to Paris, and was projected to gross $37–40 million from 3,768 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $5.6 million from Thursday night previews, down 2% from the $5.7 million taken in Fifty Shades Darker the previous year. It ended up making $38.6 million over the weekend, the lowest of the trilogy, but enough to take first place at the box office. The film grossed $10.8 million on Valentine's Day, the third-highest total for when the holiday fell on a weekday, behind The Vow ($11.6 million in 2012) and Darker ($11 million), and bringing its five-day gross to $56.1 million. In its second weekend, the film made $17.3 million, dropping 55.1% (a slightly better hold than the previous film) and finishing third, behind newcomer Black Panther and Peter Rabbit.

Worldwide, the film was expected to make $80–90 million from 57 countries, including France, Germany, the UK, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Japan, for a worldwide debut of $113–130 million in its first three days. It ended up grossing $98.1 million from overseas for a global debut of $136.9 million, making a 7% decrease from the previous film but still finishing first in 54 of the 57 markets. Its leading countries were Germany ($10.7 million), the United Kingdom ($8.8 million) and France ($8.7 million).

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 13%, based on 150 reviews, and an average rating of 3.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Fifty Shades Freed brings its titillating trilogy to a clumsy conclusion, making for a film franchise that adds up to a distinctly dissatisfying ménage à trois." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 31 out of 100, based on 43 critics, meaning "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the same score earned by Darker, while PostTrak reported that 56% of females (who made up 81% of the opening weekend audience) gave the film a "definite recommend".

Writing for Variety, Guy Lodge was critical of the film, saying "Indeed, a sex-free, PG-13 version of Freed could be cut without shedding a second of narrative coherence, such as it is; one could ask what the point of that would be, though similar queries might be leveled at the film as it stands." Rolling Stone's Peter Travers gave the film zero out of four, stating "With this last entry, we have officially hit the bottom of the barrel. Whips, chains, butt plugs and nipple clips are nothing compared to the sheer torture of watching this movie." Robbie Collin of The Telegraph gave the film one out of five stars, and wrote "This is a film in which one of the more emotionally detailed performances is given by a product-placement Audi."

Jeannette Catsoulis, writing for The New York Times, found the film to be significantly inferior to Kim Basinger's 9½ Weeks, stating: "Layering a damp-squib thriller subplot beneath what appears to be an ad campaign for the one-percent lifestyle, the returning director and screenwriter test the newly married couple with an inconvenient pregnancy and an unconvincing car chase. There's an out-of-left-field abduction and a marital tiff over email addresses; but these narrative fragments, lazily tossed together alongside a neglected supporting cast, are no more than a flimsy causeway connecting bonking sessions."

Conversely, IndieWire reviewer Manuela Lazic gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Finally, the Fifty Shades phenomenon has yielded a disarming comedy that makes this ridiculous material fun to watch."