Fifty Shades (film series) the second, "Fifty Shades Darker", was released on February 10, 2017. "Fifty Shades Freed", the third film, was released on February 9, 2018. Worldwide, the series has grossed over $1.320 billion, making it the fourth highest-grossing R-rated franchise of all-time. Two years after the trilogy's first novel was released, several distribution companies had bid for the rights of the trilogy. Warner Bros., Sony, Paramount and Universal, as well as Mark Wahlberg's production company, put in bids for the film rights. The winning bid went to Universal Studios and Focus Features, at $5 million. With James gaining control over the process
Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, have been reissued (this time without pseudonyms) to meet the higher demand. On 1 August 2012, Amazon UK announced that it had sold more copies of "Fifty Shades of Grey" than it had the entire "Harry Potter" series combined, making E. L. James its best-selling author, replacing J. K. Rowling, though worldwide the "Harry Potter" series sold more than 450 million copies compared with "Fifty Shades of Grey"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s sales of 60 million copies. "Fifty Shades of Grey" has topped best-seller lists around the world, including those of the United Kingdom and the United States. The series had sold over