Fifty Shades Movies Ranked Worst To Best

Summary Despite controversy, the Fifty Shades trilogy became box office hits with glamor and star power.

The movies were condemned by critics and the BDSM community for inaccurate, abusive depictions.

While successful financially, the films were panned for poor scripts and lackluster performances, concluding the franchise.

Starting with Fifty Shades of Grey, the erotic Fifty Shades trilogy was not without its controversies, but which of the movies is the best? Springing from the mind of author E.L. James, the Fifty Shades trilogy centers on the relationship between billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), and a naive literature student named Anastasia (Dakota Johnson). Like the books that inspired them, the movies took the world by storm and managed to be certified blockbuster hits despite their overwhelmingly bad reviews. The movies boasted star power and glamour that helped elevate the steamy books into must-see movies for curious audiences.

In addition to the critics who panned the film and moralists who wanted it banned, the Fifty Shades movies also drew the ire of the BDSM community because of their negative depiction of their lifestyle. The main issue with the trilogy was that it equated consensual BDSM activity to Christian Grey's borderline abusive behavior, and it was an overall inaccurate look at alternative sexual communities. Nevertheless, the Fifty Shades trilogy passed $1 billion at the box office and became some of the highest-grossing films of their respective years.

Related 10 Best Parallels In Twilight And Fifty Shades Of Grey At first glance, Twilight & Fifty Shades of Grey couldn't be more different. But, on closer inspection, the two have almost the same story to tell.

Fifty Shades Movie Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score IMDb Score Fifty Shades Of Grey (2015) 25% 41% 4.2/10 Fifty Shades Darker (2017) 11% 47% 4.6/10 Fifty Shades Freed (2018) 11% 38% 4.5/10

3 Fifty Shades Freed (2018)

Ended The Franchise On An Underwhelming Note

Fifty Shades Freed Where to Watch *Availability in US stream

rent

buy Not available Not available Not available Release Date February 9, 2018 Director James Foley Cast Rita Ora , Jamie Dornan , Tyler Hoechlin , Dylan Neal , Luke Grimes , Max Martini , Arielle Kebbel , Dakota Johnson , Eric Johnson Runtime 101minutes

The worst movie in the Fifty Shades franchise is also the most recent - 2018's Fifty Shades Freed. Closing out the trilogy, Fifty Shades Freed sees Christian and Anastasia's newfound marital bliss threatened by the arrival of a dark figure from their past. While it delivered the usual steamy scenes that put butts in the seats from the start, Fifty Shades Freed was nevertheless picked apart by critics on an even larger scale than its predecessors (via Rotten Tomatoes).

Though Fifty Shades Freed was another big moneymaker, it mercifully concluded the Fifty Shades movie franchise.

Almost every element of Fifty Shades Freed was lambasted by critics, and while the cast did their best with their performances, it wasn't enough to save the final movie in the Fifty Shades trilogy. The character of Christian Grey fully entered villain status as he weaponized his sex life with Anastasia as a measure of revenge, further angering the BDSM community, and the script was downright laughable. Though Fifty Shades Freed was another big moneymaker, it mercifully concluded the Fifty Shades movie franchise.

The Fifty Shades trilogy originated as fanfiction inspired by the Twilight novels by Stephenie Meyer.

2 Fifty Shades Darker (2017)

A New Director Takes The Helm With Lackluster Results

Fifty Shades Darker Where to Watch *Availability in US stream

rent

buy Not available Not available Not available Release Date February 10, 2017 Director James Foley Writers Niall Leonard Cast Jamie Dornan , Max Martini , Marcia Gay Harden , Jennifer Ehle , Kim Basinger , Hugh Dancy , Luke Grimes , Tyler Hoechlin , Rita Ora , Eric Johnson , Dakota Johnson , Bella Heathcote Runtime 118 Minutes Expand

Director James Foley took the helm for the second movie in the Fifty Shades trilogy, 2017's Fifty Shades Darker, and it was sadly a step down from the first entry. Though the Fifty Shades trilogy made changes from the books, the second installment was left largely intact. In Fifty Shades Darker, Anastasia and Christian give their love affair another chance as he attempts to "go vanilla" in order to stay together. The sequel drew much of the same criticism as the original (via Rotten Tomatoes), and though there were over-the-top moments, it was mostly subdued.

The film lacked narrative thrust and mostly meandered from one plot point to the next with occasional sexual encounters to provide interest in the story. Despite all that, Fifty Shades Darker's box office take was enough to guarantee the cinematic trilogy would continue. Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan's performances as Ana and Christian also came under fire, with many critics feeling the pair delivered a lackluster turn in the second installment.

Related Fifty Shades Of Grey: 10 Things Christian Did That Fans Can't Get Over Christian Grey may be the hero of Fifty Shades of Grey, but jealousy, manipulative behavior, and stalking tendencies aren't really all that heroic.

1 Fifty Shades Of Grey (2015)

The Cultural Phenomenon

Fifty Shades of Grey Where to Watch *Availability in US stream

rent

buy Not available Not available Not available Release Date February 13, 2015 Director Sam Taylor-Johnson Writers Kelly Marcel Cast Jennifer Ehle , Dakota Johnson , Jamie Dorman , Marcia Gay Harden , Eloise Mumford , Victor Rasuk , Luke Grimes , Rita Ora Runtime 125 Minutes Expand

Four years after the publication of E.L. James's best-selling original, Fifty Shades of Grey captured the popular appeal of the first novel on the big screen in 2015. The adaptation follows Anastasia Steele, who after conducting an interview with the eccentric billionaire for her college paper, begins an affair with Christian Grey.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Grossing over half a billion dollars (via Box Office Mojo), Fifty Shades of Grey was one of the biggest hits of 2015. On the other hand, critics picked apart the film's flimsy script (via Rotten Tomatoes), and members of the BDSM community were quick to point out that Christian Grey's approach to sex was mostly abusive.

Though the film was far from a masterpiece, director Sam Taylor-Johnson's cinematic approach elevated the deficient script, and the Weeknd scored an Oscar nomination for his original song "Earned It." Unlike the movies that followed it, Fifty Shades of Grey has a quicker pace, rarely becomes dull, and its characters are slightly more fleshed out than their flat depictions in the proceeding installments. In the end, the erotic elements from the books were carried over, and that was what inspired audiences to flock to the theater in droves for all three of the Fifty Shades movies.

How Fifty Shades Stacks Up Against Other Popular Adaptations

Close

Adapting books into movies has been a staple of cinema since the dawn of film in the 20th century, but the 2000s and 2010s saw a boom in blockbuster franchises based on literary works. The Fifty Shades franchise was very much a product of this, with studio Universal opting to adapt the trilogy based on how much of a zeitgeist-grasping phenomenon the raunchy novels by E.L. James were when the books first hit shelves in 2012. However, it must be said that Fifty Shades was perhaps the most heavily criticized attempt to bring the page to the screen of the era.

Fifty Shades Of Grey hit theaters in the wake of highly successful and praised adaptations like The Hunger Games and Harry Potter franchises, both of which were adored by both critics, audiences, and fans of the original works. There was also the powerhouse that was Twilight which — while not widely acclaimed by movie buffs — was still a heavy-hitter at the box office and drew in scores of fans to theaters for each installment. Twilight is an especially interesting comparison since Fifty Shades Of Grey was originally Twilight fan-fiction, and it's clear that the E.L. James story had nowhere near the pull of the Stephanie Meyer's series that inspired it.

Even underwhelming literature-based franchise like the Divergent series managed to top Fifty Shades when it came to critical reviews. In the years that followed the release of the final movie, it became increasingly clear that the Fifty Shades trilogy was more of a flash-in-the-pan cultural phenomenon, and its admittedly impressive ticket sales were more down to the infamy surrounding their raunchiness than they were about the quality of the story.