‘Fifty Shades Freed,’ Gabrielle Union’s ‘Breaking In’ Build Social Media Buzz

A pair of Universal films — “Breaking In” and “Fifty Shades Freed” — dominated social media buzz last week with a combined 189,000 new conversations, according to media-measurement firm comScore and its PreAct service.

“Breaking In,” a home-invasion drama starring Gabrielle Union, generated 97,000 new conversations in the wake of the release of a trailer on Jan. 11, shortly after announcing a May 11 release date for the film. “V for Vendetta” director James McTeigue helms from a script by Ryan Engle, based on a pitch from Jaime Primak Sullivan about a woman fighting to protect her family during a home invasion.

“Fifty Shades Freed” drew 92,000 new conversations last week. A new trailer released on Jan. 2 revealed in the final five seconds that Dakota Johnson’s Anastasia Steele is pregnant. The pregnancy announcement isn’t news to those who read the final installment of E.L. James’ erotic trilogy, published in 2012, but it had not been hinted at in the two previous films, “Fifty Shades of Grey” and “Fifty Shades Darker.”
The two films, co-starring Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey, have grossed a combined $950 million worldwide. The final installment in the “Fifty Shades” movie trilogy is due in theaters on Feb. 9.

Disney-Marvel’s “Black Panther” produced nearly 67,000 conversations last week after the Jan. 10 announcement that advance sales set a new record for Fandango as the top seller among Marvel Cinematic Universe movies in the first 24 hours.

Sales launched two days earlier after a national spot aired during the telecast of the College Football Playoff National Championship. Chadwick Boseman stars as T’Challa, who takes over as the king of Wakanda after his father T’Chaka is killed, as shown in “Captain America: Civil War.” The film also stars Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Michael B. Jordan.

Fox’s “Maze Runner: The Death Cure” reeled in 65,000 new conversations, two weeks before the Jan. 26 opening of the film — the finale of the “Maze Runner” sci-fi trilogy. The studio released a new clip and 8-bit interactive maze game on Jan. 11. The movie’s original release date has been delayed for nearly a year in order to allow star Dylan O’Brien to recover from injuries sustained during shooting.

Disney-Marvel’s superhero team-up “Avengers: Infinity War” earned nearly 61,000 new conversations last week to lift its total to 1.53 million, more than three months before its May 4 opening.
The movie picks up four years after the events of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo from a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the ensemble cast includes Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Brolin as Thanos, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, and Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord.