“Fifty Shades of Grey” movie in 2013

Fans of the erotic novel series will be happy to know that the trilogy will soon be put on the big screen. The series’ auction for film rights was highly fought over back in March that resulted in the winning bid of $5 million.

Studios such as Fox 2000, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Lionsgate, and more were all pulling out the big guns to hook the author, E.L. James, into selling her film rights. Impressed by their presentation and creativity, James chose Universal Studios and Focus Features as the joint owners of the newly acquired screen rights.

For those who are in the dark of what the first novel is about, the story revolves around two characters, the young and handsome entrepreneur Christian Grey and the literary college student,  Anastasia Steele. 

“The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.” (E.L. James Author Site).

The series’ erotic tastes and humorous nature quickly draws the reader in to the lives of the tormented characters. In the first eleven weeks of the first novel’s release in the UK, almost 1,162,637 copies were sold. “Fifty Shades of Grey” has beaten Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” and Jk Rowling’s “Harry Potter” books in record sales. James’s popularity with the trilogy and her readers are what drew the studios in to an all out bidding war. Everyone remembers all too well the successes the books to film franchises were for “Harry Potter,” “The Hunger Games,” and “Twilight.”

Universal Studios has chosen “The Social Network” producers, Michael DeLuca and Dana Brunetti, to produce the film adaptation of the first novel in the series, “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Ever since Universal Studios and Focus Features bought the screen rights, readers have been speculating as to which stars will be cast in the various roles.

A variety of fans have even created fake casts and fake film trailers so that the actors and actresses they want could be in it. Sites such as The Insider have included a list of possible choices for Christian and Ana. In the list for Christian are Ryan Gosling (“The Notebook”), Michael Fassbender (“Jane Eyre” and “X-Men: First Class”), Ian Somerhalder (“Vampire Diaries”), Matt Bomer (“Magic Mike” and “White Collar”), and more. Ana’s chosen actresses are Amanda Seyfried (“Letters to Juliet” and “Gone”), Nina Dobrev (“Vampire Diaries”), Lucy Hale (“Pretty Little Liars”), Emilie Clarke (“Game of Thrones”), and others.

“Fifty Shades of Grey” is scheduled to be released sometime in 2013. The rest of the trilogy adaptations will be set to follow after the first release.

Photos courtesy of Rachel Kramer Bussel via Flickr.