50 SHADES OF GREY Gets The 'R', Because of 'S'...And 'M'.

 

February is heating up despite the weather cooling down, as the first 'big' month for Hollywood in 2015 is set to kick off with the adaptation of E.L. James #1 Best-Seller, Fifty Shades of Grey premiering Valentine's Day weekend- and now with an R Rating attached.

Variety reports:

 The MPAA has deemed “the strong sexual content including dialogue, some unusual behavior and graphic nudity” worthy of an R rating

While some would argue that would damage the film's attendance, look no further than October's critically acclaimed Gone Girl which scored a bit north of $350 million off it's $60 mil budget, and spent almost an entire month in the Top 5. 
Grey has the distinct advantage of 'shock value' and 'see it just to see it' that will likely draw herds of housewives and girlfriends.

The unique thing about the film's rating is that this will be battling Kingsman: The Secret Service which was pushed from it's Fall 2014 release to battle Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, a conflict which will see two big-name films, both with R ratings, and radically different content, battling for the top spot.

Sponge Bob, Jupiter Ascending, and Seventh Son premier the weekend before, so it's anyone's guess at this point how those will effect Grey if at all, given that the two fantasy movies have been pushed back almost an entire year from their original slate, and the fact Sponge Bob hasn't been culturally relevant since the early 2000's.