It's been about four years since Fifty Shades Of Grey became an international book sensation. Initially available in digital format but soon hitting every other conceivable medium as it smashed sales records as the fastest selling paperback of all time selling more than 100 million copies.
The movie rights were sold to Universal Pictures for $5 million dollars, and now the long-awaited movie adaptation is only a few days away from release (it was really a no brainer to release it for Valentine’s Day), and again it is ripping up the record books, as the demand for advanced cinema tickets has been unprecedented, although interestingly enough it is only 60/40 per cent split in favour of women, which would suggest there are plenty of men also interested in the raunchy shenanigans the film has to offer.
Such has been the demand that a sequel has already been agreed.
Several trailers for the movie have heightened expectation, and even though they sometimes come across as elongated perfume adverts, the official postings of them have topped over 55 million views online. They are popular, that's for sure.
So popular in fact that a number of spoofs have appeared online too, with one of the latest being a masterclass in Lego animation. In fact, many are claiming that the Lego trailer for Fifty Shades is even better than the real thing. It's almost had three million views already, so is gaining a viral life of its own.
Written by British author E L James 50 Shades traces the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele (played by Dakota Johnson), and a young business magnate, Christian Grey (played by Jamie Dornan).
Check out the original trailer and the Lego spoof version below.