‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ News: Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson Seeking Seven-Figure Salaries for the Sequel
The raunchy romance "Fifty Shades of Grey," based off of E.L. James' 2011 bestseller, "Fifty Shades of Grey," has made over $500 million in global sales.
With this much success, the movie's leads, Jamie Dornan who plays billionaire businessman Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson, who plays the college student/graduate love interest, Anastasia Steele are reportedly demanding a pay raise for the sequel, "Fifty Shade Darker."
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dornan, 32, and Johnson, 25, want seven-figure salaries this time around before they willingly take off their clothes and enter the red room of pain.
In the first movie, both actors bared their bodies in several sex scenes that featured some aspects of BDSM and despite these revealing scenes, Dornan and Johnson only made $250,000 each plus box-office bonuses, sources reported.
With two more movies expected to be confirmed - the book series is a trilogy after all - sources expect the actors to start negotiating their future contracts, similarly to how other actors, who were a part of franchise movies, have.
"It was a very basic franchise starter deal," an insider with knowledge of the terms of Johnson's and Dornan's contracts said. "Look at Twilight and Hunger Games, and that's where it is heading."
"Fifty Shades of Grey" opened big over Valentine's/ Presidents day weekend despite early scathing reviews about the lack of chemistry between the actors and the movie's plot. Although ticket sales fell drastically after the first weekend, the movie still managed to take over the number one spot as February's biggest opening in the U.S. The movie did not open in China, the second largest market for films. It was also banned in India and Malaysia.
Despite the success and profits that the movie has received, Universal Studios still has not confirmed the second installment yet. There were earlier rumors that the author, James and the director, Sam Taylor-Johnson were still negotiating on how to portray the second book on the big screen.
