News Digest

'Fifty Shades' goes global, but film too hot for some countries

In Argentina, it nabbed the biggest opening day of all time for any film with $1 million. And in a raft of other countries, it scored the top opening-day gross of all time for a film with a restrictive adult rating, including in Brazil ($2.4 million), Italy ($2 million), Mexico ($2.1 million) and Russia ($2.3 million). The steamy novel is a global phenomenon, but fans in China and other countries will not be able to see the movie version in theaters even though the sex scenes have has been toned down for the big screen.

It’s great publicity, and you know the DVD will come out and hopefully they’ll get to see it then.

E.L. James, author of “50 Shades of Grey”

The distributor, Comcast Corp unit Universal Pictures, is not pursuing a theatrical release in China - the world’s second-largest film market - according to a source with knowledge of the studio’s plans who spoke on condition of anonymity. Sexually explicit films generally do not make it past Chinese government censors. Three countries that often object to sexual content - Malaysia, Indonesia and Kenya - have banned “Fifty Shades” from theaters. Most countries are welcoming the movie, and box-office analysts project strong international ticket sales. Markets where the film is playing include Britain, Germany, Hong Kong, Australia, Russia, Singapore and Japan.