Fifty Shades of Grey Movies

Fifty Shades Freed is a 2018 USA drama by James Foley.
Starring Arielle Kebbel, Tyler Hoechlin and Dakota Johnson.

UK: Passed 18 uncut for strong sex for:

• 2018 cinema release

Summary Notes

The third installment of the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' trilogy.

Believing they have left behind shadowy figures from their past, newlyweds Christian and Ana fully embrace an inextricable connection and shared life of luxury. But just as she steps into her role as Mrs. Grey and he relaxes into an unfamiliar stability, new threats could jeopardize their happy ending before it even begins.

International ratings

And as always few other western countries think that the films needs an adults only rating.

• Australia: MA15+
• Canada: 18A (Alberta & British Columbia)
• Finland: K-16
• France: U
• Germany:16
• Netherlands:16
• New Zealand:R16
• Norway:15
• Portugal:M/16
• Switzerland:16
• United States: R

It's been compared to removing Harry Potter's wand, or watching Titanic and not seeing the boat sink.

French broadcaster TF1 has angered viewers who tuned into a Sunday night screening of the 2015 film Fifty Shades of Grey by removing 15-minutes of sex scenes from it. The channel said it made the cuts in order for it to screen at 9pm.

However, some viewers thought it should have been shown in full after 10.30pm, while others thought it was tame compared to some French programming and pointed out it was only restricted to those under-12 when it was released in French cinemas.

The bizarre censorship decision may have been something to do with a recent whinge by President Macron'that French teens were being exposed to too much sex, too early.

  Fifty Shades Darker is a 2017 USA romance by James Foley.
Starring Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan and Bella Heathcote.

The Theatrical Version is 18 rated in the UK and R rated in the US, but was banned in India. An Unrated Unmasked version will be released on home video.

India: Banned in March 2017

Banned by the CBFC. The film censors nominally noted that the film could be released with all the sex scenes removed but this option was not accepted by the distributors Universal, so the film remains banned.

UK: The Theatrical Version was passed 18 uncut for strong sex.

US: The Theatrical Version was rated R for strong erotic sexual content, some graphic nudity, and language.

Summary Notes

While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her.

Hype for Fifty Shades Darker seems to be flagging compared with last year's original Fifty Shades of Grey.

Offending everybody in Navan

The only offering so far is a story from a cinema in Ireland that has announced that it will ban single men from the film. And even that ban sounds a little tenuous. A message informing men that they could not come in to watch the film was recorded by a staff member at the Diamond Cinema in Navan, stated:

If you're looking to go to Fifty Shades Darker and you're bringing your boyfriend, you better keep lots of space between you.

It's on an 18 cert and I must stress that single men or married men on their own, any unaccompanied males will not be allowed in.

And apparently the cinema will be keeping an eye on women viewers to ensure that they can control themselves.

Miserable Vietnam

Meanwhile in Vietnam, the country's censors may have obliged by banning the film, but again the reports are bit unsure.

Two new releases were lined up for local cinemas but both somehow got banned or delayed. Planned premiers for Fifty Shades Darker and John Wick: Chapter 2 were cancelled at the last minute.

Nguyen Hoang Hai from CGV, the biggest cinema chain in Vietnam, said it did not receive permission to start showing 50 Shades Darker on Friday morning. Screenings for the press were reportedly canceled earlier this week. Hai also said that the version intended for the Vietnamese market already had several sex scenes cut and that local theaters were also expecting an adult-only C18 rating.

The first 50 Shades film did not have so much luck either two years ago, when censors unexpectedly canceled all planned screenings. Then a so-called Asian version managed to hit theaters but moviegoers complained that there were no sex scenes left.

Finger on the Pulse

Perhaps a more positive and encourage approach is demonstrated by the Pulse & Cocktails sex shop chain.

Sex superstore Pulse and Cocktails has stocked up on whips, blindfolds and handcuffs in preparation for Fifty Shades Darker and anyone taking in a cinema ticket can get a discount on their purchase.

Pulse and Cocktails is offering cinema-goers inspired by the film 20% off for anyone taking their cinema ticket in to their local store.

Since the film franchise was released, Pulse and Cocktails has recorded a sales spike in the toys featured in the film, including sales of whips and spankers. Current best sellers are floggers and whips, eye masks and designer sex toys.

Feminists, women's shelters, and anti-pornography campigners in the U.S., Canada and Australia have started a boycott against the soft-porn BDSM movie 50 Shades Darker , claiming it glamorizes male-on-female violence and oppression.

The U.S. boycott is led by Morality in Media (now calling itself the National Center on Sexual Exploitation) and Culture Reframed. The latter group's founder and president, Gail Dines, told LifeSiteNews that the books and movies appeal to teenage and young adult women and:

socialize them to believe that normal sex involves the oppression, dehumanization, and degradation of women by men.

In Australia the feminist campaign group Collective Shout has joined the protest.

The film, due to be released the second week of February, is the sequel to the hugely successful 50 Shades of Grey , which cost $44 million to make and grossed Universal Pictures more than $500 million.

The campaigners are urging people to skip the movie and give $50 to a women's shelter.

Fifty Shades Darker is a 2017 USA romance by James Foley.
Starring Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan and Bella Heathcote.

While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her.

In the US the movie received an R rating (17A) from the MPAA for strong erotic sexual content, some graphic nudity and language.

Canadian film censors of the British Caledonian Consumer Protection Board have been a bit more detailed about the content when awarding an Accompanied 18 rating (18A) for Several sexually suggestive scenes with three depicting nude breasts and/or buttocks.

Classifiers also noted the following:

• Several scenes of nudity, depicting breasts, buttocks and/or pubic region, in sexual and non-sexual contexts;

• Approximately 28 instances of coarse and/or sexual language;

• Four scenes depicting sexual content;

• Three scenes of violence depicting physical assault and/or weapons.

In the days leading up to the release in Vietnam, the movie was banned in Indonesia, neighbouring Cambodia and Malaysia -- whose censors declared it to be more pornography than a movie . This stoked even more anticipation in Vietnam. Newspapers breathlessly speculated about how many minutes of screen time would be devoted to sex scenes, while cinemas created elaborate Red Room displays in their lobbies for people to take risque selfies.

The film was promoted a lot, so it made us excited and curious, says Xuan Thao, who along with thousands of others queued patiently to get a ticket for the film when it opened on Valentine's Day. We wanted to see what all the fuss was about. She left feeling angry and short changed. In this version of Fifty Shades of Grey there is no sex at all.

In total, around 20 minutes of screen time has been cut by the country's censorship committee, excising any scene deemed potentially sensitive. Only a few kisses remain. The lack of passion has infuriated audiences, who hadn't gone for deft plotting or complex characterisation. It's totally ridiculous, Thao complains. This version is rated 16+, but it doesn't need an age restriction; a five-year-old could watch it. Even the trailer was sexier. They'd have been better banning it altogether.

...Read the full article

India's Central Board of Film 'Classification' (CBFC) has decided to ban the screening of Fifty Shades of Grey.

The distributors had submitted a pre-cut version with all the nudity missing but this was not enough for the censors. One of the chief executive of the CBFC, Shravan Kumar declined to divulge details as to why the panel refused to approve the movie.

Previous reports suggest that the sexy dialogue was also too much for the censors to bear, particularly as the loony new chief censor is trying to ban strong language in all films.

A source from Universal Pictures talked about how filmmakers tried their best to tone down movie's sex scenes and remove all nudity in direction with the review process in India.

The announcement shouldn't shock Indian movie buffs, as CBFC's latest changing guidelines are all over the news with board posing issues to cuss words, sexually explicit content and words.

Update: Because the appeal options are not yet exhausted the CBFC bizarrely contend that the banned movie is not officially 'banned'

8th March 2015. See  article from  timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The Central Board of Film Censorship (CBFC) has refuted news that the film adaptation of the erotic novel, Fifty Shades Of Grey , has been banned in India.

Reportedly, the examining committee of the Censor Board recently watched the pre-cut version and claimed it to be too provocative for Indian audiences. Shravan Kumar, CEO, CBFC pedantically tried to explain that this was not an 'official' ban:

Many mainstream films don't get clearance in the first step. The producers can appeal against the decision and go for the revising committee's opinion. Even if the revising committee gives a verdict refusing certification, an appeal can be made to Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT). The film is in the process of certification and they have to revert to us,

Fifty Shades of Grey scored one of the biggest R-rated debuts ever this weekend.

Playing at 3,646 theaters, the widest opening ever for an R-rated movie, ifty Shades of Grey scored an estimated $85 million over the three-day weekend. That's the top opening ever in the month of February.

And the movie is proving to be even more of a phenomenon internationally than it is in the U.S.

The movie earned a stunning $158 million from 58 markets this weekend. That's the second-biggest weekend ever for Universal Pictures International (behind Fast & Furious 6 ), and included their biggest single day ever (Valentine's Day at $55.1 million).

Update: Set to be the first film of 2015 to pass 500 million mark

3rd  March 2015.  See  article from  flickeringmyth.com

The film fell to fourth in the US box office over the weekend, but still added $10.9 million from its fourth week in the charts. That brings its domestic total to $147 million and its worldwide total to $486 million. Another week like this and it will become the first movie of 2015 to reach $500 million.

Fifty Shades of Grey continues to wind up film censors.

UAE: Banned

UAE's film censors of the National Media Council have required 35 minutes of cuts due to inappropriate scenes, forcing distributor Four Star Films to pull the film. The council's director of media content Juma Al Leem told the paper.

We reviewed the movie in the presence of the distributor and after he realized how many inappropriate scenes there were, he took the decision not to show the movie himself, before we were able to make a decision.

Russia: Not shown in the Caucases

Meanwhile Russian news agency TASS reported that the erotic drama, which opened elsewhere in Russia on Feb. 12 with an 18+ age restriction, has been pulled out by cinemas in the republics of Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya. Ossetian mufti Khadzhimurat Gatsalov was quoted as saying:

The initiative to send an address to the region's authorities, requesting that the film be banned, came from young people who are concerned about noticeable interest in the movie from those who are in the early twenties,

TASS also quoted Madina Ayubova, a spokesperson for Kinostar, a theater in Chechnya's capital Grozny, as saying that film won't be exhibited in Chechnya:

Because a lot of what is shown in [the film] contradicts the mentality and religion of the majority of the republic's population.

According to Gatsalov, the film is not going to be exhibited in any of the four remaining North Caucasus republics either.

Philippines: Blurred

MTRCB, The Philippines censorship group's Chairman Eugenio Toto Villareal told the Inquirer that the board approved the film with no further cuts, but that the producer/distributor (Columbia Pictures) had made pre-cuts prior to review.

As part of the measures, a 10-second notice is flashed onscreen before each screening, disclosing that the film was classified as is and in its entirety with noticeable blurs and screen blocks introduced by the film producer. The notice also informs the public about the adult content.

Update: Banned in Papua New Guinea and heavily cut in Zimbabwe

19th February 2015. See  article from  newzimbabwe.com .
See  article from  pacific.scoop.co.nz

Papua New Guinea : Banned in February 2015

Fifty Shades of Grey has been refused classification by the Papua New Guinea Censorship Office, preventing it from being shown in cinemas.

Zimbabwe: Heavily cut in February 2015

Zimbabwe's film censors have demanded heavy editing of the film Fifty Shades of Grey, leading to some movie theatres not screening it.

Two cinema houses in the capital Harare are screening an edited version of the movie. Sam Levy's Village was not screening it with the explanation:

It was felt that heavy censorship would compromise the integrity of the film and thus, a decision has been made by Ster-Kinekor Sam Levy's Village not to screen the film within its complex.

Update: Nigeria Too

21st February 2015. See  article from  osundefender.org

Nigeria : Banned in February 2015

Nigeria's National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) has banned Fifty Shades of Grey, but only after the board had let it be shown for about a week.

World censors' ratings:

• Argentina 16
• Australia: rated MA15+ (15A in UK ratings terminology) for strong sex scenes, sexual themes and nudity
• Canada (Quebec) 16+
• Canada (Ontario + British Columbia) 18A
• China Unavailable as distributors think Chinese film censors would ban it
• Czech Republic: 15
• France 12
• Germany 16
• Iceland 16
• Indonesia Banned
• Ireland 18
• Italy 14
• Kenya Banned
• Malaysia Banned
• New Zealand R18 for sex scenes and offensive language
• Netherlands 16
• Nigeria Banned
• Papua New Guinea Banned
• Philippines R-18 after censorship cuts implemented by blurring
• Russia 18+ (banned in Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya)
• Singapore R21 uncut for mature theme and sexual scenes
• South Korea 18
• Spain 16
• Sweden: 15
• Thailand 20
• UAE Banned
• UK 18 uncut for strong sex
• US: R rated (17A in UK ratings terminology) for strong sexual content including dialogue, some unusual behavior and graphic nudity, and for language.
• Vietnam 16+ after cuts which were required to make the film suitable for the masses
• Zimbabwe Heavily cut. Some cinemas have decided that the cut version is not worth showing

One day after pulling Fifty Shades of Grey from its Thursday premiere, cinema chains in Vietnam finally proceeded with a wide release of the erotic movie, of a cut version of it to be exact.

The new cut, dubbed as the Asian version, is rated 16+ for mature audience but is now advertised as more suitable for the masses.

The last-minute cancelation, which forced theaters to give ticket refunds to many movie fans, has sparked rumor that the movie could not make it pass Vietnam's censorship board.

Meanwhile distributor, Comcast/Universal Pictures, is not pursuing a theatrical release in China. A source with knowledge of the studio's plans explained that sexually explicit films generally do not make it past Chinese government censors.

The distributor in Indonesia said the film would not be shown there as the film did not meet the country's censorship standards.

Mediawatch-UK has made the inevitable blog entry about Fifty Shades of Grey and kindly adds some fine piffle to the hype for the movie. The morality campaigners write:

The book on which this film was based glamorised and legitimised both sexual and domestic violence. With the mainstream release and promotion of this film opinion makers, the media and celebrities are legitimising this violence too.

Sexual violence and sexual exploitation are at an all time high, permeating our culture by way of hardcore pornography. This film further legitimises them despite the fact that making violence sexy has significant consequences to individuals, relationships and society.

This film also perpetuates the fairy tale that women can fix violent, controlling men by being obedient and loving.

Violence is violence and inflicting sexual violence is not sexy. While this should be a black-and-white truth, this film is selling it in all shades of grey.

The BBFC has given the film an 18 certificate because it contains strong sex and nudity, along with the portrayal of erotic role play based on domination, submission and sado-masochistic practices .

We'd like to amend this to read: Promotes torture as sexually gratifying, encourages stalking and abuse of power, promotes female inequality, glamorises and legitimises violence against women.

Fifty Shades of Grey is a 2015 USA romance by Sam Taylor-Johnson.
Starring Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan and Jennifer Ehle.

The film adaptation of the erotic romance novel Fifty Shades of Grey will be screened uncut in Singapore. It received an R21 rating from the Board of Film Censors, with an advisory that the film has a mature theme and sexual scenes.

Meanwhile in Thailand the film has been given a rare 20 rating. (20 is the age of maturity, similar to 21 in the UK)

For comparison, countries have rated the film as follows:

• Argentina 16
• Australia: rated MA15+ (15A in UK ratings terminology) for strong sex scenes, sexual themes and nudity
• Canada (Quebec) 16+
• Canada (Ontario + British Columbia) 18A
• China Unavailable as distributors think Chinese film censors would ban it
• Czech Republic: 15
• France 12
• Iceland 16
• Indonesia Banned
• Ireland 18
• Italy 14
• Kenya Banned
• Malaysia Banned
• New Zealand R18 for sex scenes and offensive language
• Netherlands 16
• Philippines R-18 after censorship cuts implemented by blurring
• Russia 18+ (banned in Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya)
• Singapore R21 uncut for mature theme and sexual scenes
• South Korea 18
• Spain 16
• Sweden: 15
• Thailand 20
• UAE Banned
• UK 18 uncut for strong sex
• US: R rated (17A in UK ratings terminology) for strong sexual content including dialogue, some unusual behavior and graphic nudity, and for language.
• Vietnam 16+ after cuts which were required to make the film suitable for the masses

And perhaps, most importantly the viewers have rated the film 3. (3 out of 10 that is, the average mark from 10,000 reviewers on IMDb )

Fifty Shades of Grey is a 2015 USA romance by Sam Taylor-Johnson.
Starring Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan and Jennifer Ehle.

The Malaysian Film Censorship Board (LPF) banned the movie with its chairman Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid saying that the board had found the film to be unfit for the Malaysian audience, calling the flick more like pornography than a movie . He said:

The board made a decision in view of the film containing scenes that are not of natural sexual content. The content is more sadistic, featuring scenes of a woman being tied to a bed and whipped.

Update: Kenya in bondage to prudery

11th February 2015. See  article from  allafrica.com

Fifty Shades of Grey has banned by the state censors of the Kenya Film Classification Board with the following announcement on facebook :

The Board wishes to inform the public, film operators and stakeholders that the film, 50 Shades of Grey has been RESTRICTED. It should not be screened or distributed to the public.

When contacted, an official at the board declined to comment on the matter until the department releases a full statement about banning the film.

An amusingly taunting tweet alerted me that France's film classifiers have given a 12 rating to Fifty Shades of Grey:

50 nuances de Grey interdit aux -12 ans en France! C'est la classification de Madame Doubtfire en Angleterre

And indeed cinema websites in France do seem to be noting the screening as Interdit aux moins 12 ans (Prohibited to those less than 12 years old).

Perhaps justifiably

9th February 2015.  See  article from  telegraph.co.uk

The Telegraph has printed its first review saying:

Fifty Shades of Grey has no sex for first 40 minutes Preview audiences were getting restless at lack of sex in 50 Shades of Grey,

The film features only 11 minutes of sex and none at all in the first 40 minutes, according to one disappointed reviewer.

...Read the full article

Fifty Shades of Grey is a 2015 USA romance by Sam Taylor-Johnson.
Starring Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan and Jennifer Ehle.

Literature student Anastasia Steele's life changes forever when she meets handsome, yet tormented, billionaire Christian Grey.

The BBFC has now passed the cinema release as 18 uncut for strong sex.

The BBFC adds in its Insight comment:

The film contains strong sex and nudity, along with the portrayal of erotic role play based on domination, submission and sado-masochistic practices. There are also strong verbal references to such practices and the instruments used.

No doubt the distributors are pleased as US Hollywood films are very restrictive on the amount of sex allowed and there was a fear that the film was heading towards 15 territory.

For comparison, countries have rated the film as follows:

• Argentina 16
• Australia: rated MA15+ (15A in UK ratings terminology) for strong sex scenes, sexual themes and nudity
• Canada (Quebec) 16+
• Canada (Ontario + British Columbia) 18A
• Czech Republic: 15
• France 12
• Iceland 16
• Ireland 18
• Italy 14
• Kenya Bannned
• Malaysia Banned
• New Zealand R18 for sex scenes and offensive language
• Netherlands 16
• Philippines R-18
• Singapore R21 uncut for mature theme and sexual scenes
• South Korea 18
• Spain 16
• Sweden: 15
• Thailand 20
• UK 18 uncut for strong sex
• US: R rated (17A in UK ratings terminology) for strong sexual content including dialogue, some unusual behavior and graphic nudity, and for language.

Campaigners from Morality in Media throw down a challenge. Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director, Morality in Media writes:

Fifty Shades of Grey has taken the world by storm. The well-oiled PR machine they have hired would have you think that all women want to be treated as slaves and that NO really means YES!

I believe that a majority of people are not buying into these lies, but they are bullied by the mainstream media into staying silent. Today with the release of the new movie trailer, most of the popular news outlets are pushing this story that romanticizes and normalizes sexual violence.

The popular series promotes torture as sexually gratifying and normalizes domestic violence, particularly violence against women. This type of material cultivates a rape and sexual violence culture and is now permeating our society. With the popularity of this book, mainstream opinion-makers (like Oprah, the Today Show, Planned Parenthood and Broadway) are telling the public (especially youth) that humiliation, degradation and torture in sex is normal and to just give it a try.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association, states that sadism and masochism are mental disorders, which should be dealt with on a professional psychiatric level.

We must oppose the continued promotion of BDSM in our society. We will go after all public leaders that propagate the lies that torture and violence are normal and healthy sexual templates.

The trailer of the upcoming erotic film Fifty Shades of Grey is hopefully set to spark a 1 million pound boom in the UK sex toy industry.

The Daily Star reported that the film will play in generating estimated average sex toy sales of 2 pound per adult over the course of the next year.

Lovehoney, who is the official supplier of all Fifty Shades sex toy merchandise, will be releasing a new range of toys to tie in with the movie which is out on Valentine's Day and are expecting a surge in sales and a bondage bonanza .

USA Today has reported that Morality in Media's executive director, Dawn Hawkins, has whinged at the newly released trailer for the movie, Fifty Shades of Grey . She claims the trailer:

Deceives the public with a visually appealing melodramatic love story that romanticizes and normalizes sexual violence.

A warning to the women lining up to see this film: There is nothing empowering about whips and chains or humiliation and torture. Women as a group will not gain power by collaborating with violent men. Women would be serving only as an agent to further their own sexual degradation, handing themselves on a silver platter to exactly the sort of men who want to use and abuse them, and take away their power.

And it seems that an awful lot of the public are enjoying being deceived as the trailer on YouTube has been viewed 11,200,000 times already.

Meanwhile Parents Television Council have been joining in the whinge. PTC director of grassroots education and advocacy Melissa Henson spouted:

We're talking about basically the equivalent of a dime-store trashy romance novel. Essentially, [The Today programme on NBC] is promoting what people refer to as 'mommy porn.'

[The movie is one] that's romanticizing violence in relationships ... sexual violence is basically what this movie is promoting.

And anti-porn campaigner Gail Dines somehow reads lethal violence into the trailer:

In the trailer there is a hint of some of the violence that is about to come Anastasia's way when he tells her I don't do romance and warns her that I am incapable of leaving you alone. Stalker talk, for sure! In his book on batterers, Lundy Bancroft provides a list of potentially dangerous signs to watch out for from boyfriends. Needless to say, Christian is the poster boy of the list, not only with his jealous, controlling, stalking, sexually sadistic behavior, but his hypersensitivity to what he perceives as any slight against him, his whirlwind romancing of a younger, less powerful woman, and his Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings. Any one of these is potentially dangerous, but a man who exhibits them all is lethal.

...Read the full  article

Rumors continue to fly about the upcoming 50 Shades of Grey movie. According to the latest claims, Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson's love scenes will be significantly toned down. The studio is reportedly going for the R rating and NOT NC-17, as once thought.

According to one source who spoke with Sunday People , fans of the novel may be a bit disappointed.

Likely, this is being done in order to ensure that the MPAA will rate the film R and not NC-17. If the movie receives the latter rating, its distribution and ticket sales will suffer greatly.