Happy Birthday To Christian Grey, Here’s The First Still From ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’

If we’ve learned anything about Fifty Shades of Grey fans over the last few years, it’s that they’re more rabid and, um, passionate than just about any erotica fans out there. They helped propel SnowQueen’s IceDragon’s erotic Twilight fan fiction to the mainstream, making it a bestselling series and eventually landing it a movie deal. When it came time for casting, fans all but stormed Universal’s gates to demand that Matt Bomer play Christian Grey, and many of them freaked the f*ck out when Charlie Hunnam was cast. Finally, they calmed some when he bailed and Jamie Dornan (above) took his place opposite Dakota Johnson, probably because they just wanted the damn movie to be made already.

The filming of Fifty Shades of Grey wrapped in February and fans want to know why the summer movie season is already well underway and they haven’t seen a lick of Johnson being dominated by her boss/lover. Because they were waiting for Christian Grey’s birthday, you see, which is today according to the books. So fans have flocked to wish the fictional character a very happy birthday on the movie’s Facebook page.

Obviously, some of those fans of the books are still a little upset about the casting of their beloved Christian. But that’s just because they haven’t seen Dornan in action yet. The movie’s done, so there should be a Fifty Shades trailer now, right? Help make sense of this madness, girl who runs a fan blog.

Back in April I saw something about how MPAA is changing their rules this fall and not allowing trailers to be shown more than 5 months before movie release. I did look on the MPAA website and one of their trailer guideline documents and could not find anything about that. But, it was dated from January and it was so long I certainly could have missed it. If this rule is true, then we won’t see a trailer until September 13th, or thereabouts.

Recently @FiftyShadesEN Tweeted a hint that there is something coming at the end of June/beginning of July, but not a trailer. I don’t know what they know or who they know. But, if I were to venture a guess, I would guess that it’s more stills or some other promotional materials for the summer. Can anyone see the fun of a cardboard cutout of Christian in their movie theatre? (Via Laters Baby)

Now, of course, I’m going to become obsessed over keeping track of which trailers are released before each movie that I see, and counting to make sure that there’s exactly five months between the trailer and the film’s release. But it’s not actually a MPAA deal. According to the International Business Times, the National Association of Theater Owners created the 5-month rule in January, and that’s probably the reason why Fifty Shaders won’t have their first clips of Christian Grey until September.

Despite the MPAA’s blame for the trailer’s delayed premiere, it appears the association’s regulations may have been confused with the National Associates of Theatre Owners (NATO) guidelines, implemented in January 2014, which state similar rules. “A trailer cannot be shown for a movie more than five months before its release,” according to a January 27 report from the Hollywood Reporter, which added that according to NATO’s new standards, marketing materials cannot “be displayed inside of a theater for a film more than four months away from release.” (Via IBT)

Here’s the good news, though: September 10 is Anastasia Steele’s birthday and five months before February so you do the math! OMGGGGG! Someone get Birthday Dog fitted for a ball gag. Just try not to go through packs of batteries like they’re chewing gum until then.

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