Analysts vastly underestimated how well "Fifty Shades of Grey" would perform at the box office during Presidents Day weekend.
The adaptation of the best-selling erotica fan-fiction series by E.L. James brought in an adjusted $85 million over the three-day weekend (originally that number was $81.7 million). In four days, the $40 million Universal Pictures and Focus Features film made $94.4 million.
Analysts thought it would make just over $60 million.
That was probably in part because of comparisons with "Twilight." "Fifty Shades" started out as fan fiction inspired by the popular teen novels. The first "Twilight" movie debuted to $69 million in 2008, so an opening at about $60 million would have made sense for the first installment of "Fifty Shades." 
Instead the film achieved February's best opening weekend at the box office, knocking 2004's "Passion of the Christ" from the top spot.
Here are a few other records "Fifty Shades" now holds:
- Largest opening weekend for a romantic movie (beating out 2001's "Pearl Harbor," $59 million)
- Largest opening weekend for an erotic thriller (topping 2009's "Obsessed," $28.6 million)
- The biggest R-rated ticket-seller on Fandango
The film also has the fourth-largest opening weekend for an R-rated movie.
In total, the movie has made more than $266 million worldwide. In the UK and Ireland, it made $21.5 million.
Why didn't analysts think "Fifty Shades" would make more?
February is not typically a month in which we see a lot of breakout box-office hits.
"The Lego Movie" started to change that thought process last year when it surprised everyone with a $69 million opening weekend and a second weekend in which it nearly performed just as well.
The biggest thing "Fifty Shades" had going against it was how previous R-rated films and films in the erotica genre have performed at the box-office opening weekend.
Take a look at the biggest opening weekends for R-rated movies. "Fifty Shades" is the only film of its kind to crack the top five.
| Movie | Opening Weekend | Worldwide Gross | Estimated Budget |
| "The Matrix Reloaded" | $91.8 million | $742 million | $150 million |
| "American Sniper" | $89.2 million | $392.9 million | $58.8 million |
| "The Hangover Part II" | $85.9 million | $586.8 million | $80 million |
| "Fifty Shades of Grey" | $85 million | $266.4 million to date | $40 million |
| "The Passion of the Christ" | $83.8 million | $611.9 million | $30 million |
Here's how the top erotic thriller films had performed opening weekend at theaters:
| Movie | Opening Weekend | Worldwide Gross | Estimated Budget |
| "Obsessed" | $28.6 million | $73.8 million | $20 million |
| "Eyes Wide Shut" | $21.7 million | $162.1 million | $65 million |
| "Basic Instinct" | $15.1 million | $352.9 million | $49 million |
| "The Boy Next Door" | $14.9 million | $36.3 million | $4 million |
"Fifty Shades" had the advantage of not only being an R-rated erotica film, but unlike the other films listed above, it had a huge "Twilight"-size fan following. More than 100 million copies of the book "Fifty Shades of Grey" have been sold.
The combination helped the film break box-office expectations.
SEE ALSO: Meet the author behind the steamy 'Fifty Shades of Grey' phenomenon
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