Following the phenomenal success of "Fifty Shades of Grey," the release date to its sequel "Fifty Shades Darker" has already been scheduled.
However, it seems that the franchise is as controversial as it is successful.
After director Sam Taylor-Johnson exited the "Fifty Shades" movie franchise, the production of the sequel has been put on ice.
And while they have found a replacement to Taylor-Johnson, a new issue is apparently threatening the movie from reaching the big screen.
Apparently, lead stars, Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson are both asking for an increase.
An insider of OK! magazine revealed that there's a drama behind the scene and it involves money.
"The word is that they're asking for at least $20 million each, plus a percentage of the backend, which could be substantial if the next film is as big as the first," the insider alleged.
Dornan and Johnson apparently know that "Fifty Shades Darker" release date is impossible to happen without them thus, "They're indispensable to producers, and they know it!"
However, it seems the idea of getting such a huge raise does not sit well with produced Dana Brunetti.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the "Captain Phillips" and "The Social Network" producer fires at the actors or the idea of the actors asking for substantial raise.
"Look, when I was starting out and had to cut my teeth and build my résumé to get in, I had to basically work for free on a lot of things," she explained.
"I still take reductions in my fees for the opportunities to do certain things. We got slack on 'Captain Phillips' about how much Barkhad [Abdi] and those guys got paid. Look at Jonah Hill in 'Wolf of Wall Stree.' It was great for his career. So I'm not going to cry for anybody who wants to be in this business just because a thing they were involved in did very well and they didn't get paid [a lot]. That's not the deal that you made. If it was, I'd have more than a couple Ferraris because all the money my films have made is fucking insane. You've got to start somewhere."
While details of the said "deal" was not made public, Cinema Blend claimed that Dakota Johnsona and Jamie Dornan each made $250,000 together with bonuses without backend compensation.
There's no telling what the said conflict between the actors and the producers could do for "Fifty Shades Darkey," whether it will just make things more complicated for the movie to ever reach it's release date or will the two parties find a way to compensate remains to be seen.
Director James Foley has reportedly been tapped to replace Sam Taylor-Johnson, but according to News Everyday, there are still issues with the casting as they have even yet to find a casting director.
"We're nowhere near casting. We haven't gotten into anything like that," Dana Brunetti recently stated. "We don't even have a casting director on it yet."
"Fifty Shades Darker" is expected to introduce new characters from E.L. James' novel including, Elena Lincoln, who also goes by Mrs. Robinson, Jack Hyde and Leila Williams.
"Fifty Shades Darker" release date is set in 2017.
