Fifty Shades Freed: trailer teases marriage - and violence

The trailer for the final Fifty Shades film has been released - and wedding bells are ringing.

The one-minute clip for Fifty Shades Freed - the third installment in the erotic trilogy based on E.L. James’ bestselling novels - shows Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) and Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) getting married before heading off on their private jet for a European honeymoon to engage in the “kinky games that have made the franchise a pop culture phenomenon”, says Oliver Gettell in Entertainment Weekly.

Both the trailer and film posters, with the tagline “Mrs Grey will see you now”, hint that “marital bliss isn’t all that’s in store for the final chapter”, Gettell says. The story takes a darker, and possibly deadly, turn with the re-emergence of Anastasia’s vengeful former boss, Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson).”

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“First comes love,” says Maane Khatchatourian in Variety. “Then comes marriage. Then comes a kidnapping?”

The newlyweds’ honeymoon begins with scenes bursting with the erotic drama’s “signature images of S&M and foreplay”, reveals Khatchatourian. The mood soon changes, however, with shots of Christian holding a weapon, Anastasia firing a gun and the heroine being confronted by her knife-wielding former boss.

The trailer and poster have already caused a buzz on Twitter. Some commented on the similarities between Anastasia’s wedding dress and the dress worn by Kristen Stewart’s character in Twilight, with others pointing out that the Fifty Shades series was originally written as Twilight fan fiction.

The Daily Mail reports that the filming of Fifty Shades Freed almost took a deadly turn too. Some of the scenes were being filmed in Nice, France, last summer when a terrorist attack took place at the city's Bastille Day celebrations. The film’s producer, Dana Brunetti, later posted a message on Facebook to say that no one involved in the production had been harmed and to send a message of support to everyone who was affected.

A more extended trailer for Fifty Shades Freed will hit cinemas in November. The first two instalments (Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker) took a total of $949m (£718m) at the box office, and the final instalment is expected to make it a billion-dollar franchise.

The latest film is directed by James Foley and adapted by E.L. James’s husband, scriptwriter Niall Leonard. It lands in cinemas next year in its now regular slot, on Valentine's Day.