Actors Jamie Dornan (L) and Dakota Johnson arrive for the British premiere of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' in London February 12, 2015.
Actors Jamie Dornan (L) and Dakota Johnson arrive for the British premiere of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' in London, February 12, 2015. Reuters/Paul Hackett

Australian viewers welcomed Mr. Grey and his kinky traits with great enthusiasm over the weekend. “Fifty Shades of Grey” earned a whopping U.S. $8.6 million in the box office sales, biggest opening for any rated R film so far in Australia. It is also touted as Universal's biggest non-holiday opening for any film in Australia. The Jamie Dornan-Dakota Johnson starrer film has also created a worldwide record by becoming the biggest R-rated debuts in history.

In the U.S., “Fifty Shades of Grey” film now holds the record for being the highest-grossing President's Day holiday opener of all times. The film earned U.S. $81.7 million of gross sales, including U.S. $8.6 million worth of Thursday previews, according to Forbes. The website also adds that the bondage-sex themed film grossed U.S. $30 million alone on its opening day.

The R-rated film has earned U.S. $158 million from 58 markets worldwide, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film is expected to rake in a record U.S. $90.7 million over the long Valentine's Day and President's Day ( which falls on Feb 16 in U.S.) weekend for a global debut of U.S. $248.7 million, says the website. "The universality of the turnout was amazing. The results have been spectacular in places where the book was a big seller," Universal international president Duncan Clark is quoted as saying by the website.

The film is the adaption of the erotic BDSM (Bondage and Discipline (BD), Dominance and Submission (DS), Sadism and Masochism) novel by E.L James. The 2011 best-selling “Fifty Shades” trilogy has been translated to 52 languages and sold more that 100 million copies worldwide. The website also noted that the film did well in the same countries where the novel was sold. But in many countries like Japan, where the novel sales were low, the film too did not generate higher returns.

The film tells the story of a kinky and handsome billionaire Christian Grey (played by Jamie Dornan), who has a BDSM past. He falls in love with a virgin and naive girl named Anastasia Steele (played by Dakota Johnson). Anastasia is a simple girl with amazing self-respect who changes Christian's ideology and marries him eventually. The film is confirmed to have two more sequels, “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed.”

For any questions/comments on the article, you may contact the writer at: n.tewari@ibtimes.com.au