'Fifty Shades Of Grey' Movie Box Office Numbers Falling As Jamie Dornan Exit Rumors Emerge; Is The Hype Dying?

“Fifty Shades of Grey” titillated audiences on its opening weekend – raking in more than $129 million and sparking countless debates about everything from the acting to the depiction of the central BDSM relationship. But it looks like all the excitement may be dying down – fast.

“Fifty Shades of Grey” pulled in only $22.26 million over the last weekend. A dropoff from opening weekend is expected for most movies, but that's a 74 percent crash.

The numbers would seem to suggest that while droves of the book series’ fans turned out for the opening weekend, word of mouth in the subsequent days was not strong enough to maintain that level into the next weekend. On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregate site, “Fifty Shades of Grey” gets only a 49 percent rating from more than 52,000 audience reviews – more evidence that the hype surrounding the film is fading.

And there's more bad news for the franchise – Christian Grey actor Jamie Dornan might not be returning for the two planned “Fifty Shades” sequels. Reports state that the actor’s wife, Amelia Warner, is unhappy with the idea of her husband filming more explicit sex scenes for the movies.

But it's not all bad news for “Fifty Shades of Grey.” It still managed to top the box office results over the weekend, despite its dramatic dropoff. Plus, the movie is still making a killing overseas, where it has earned more than $405 million so far.

The movie has already made a huge profit for Universal, but the future of the franchise looks ... gray. Will the free-falling box-office numbers and Jamie Dornan rumors affect the outlook for the two sequels? Fans will have to wait to find out.

Would you go to see a “Fifty Shades” sequel without Jamie Dornan? Tweet your thoughts to @Ja9GarofaloTV.