Universal's Fifty Shades of Grey declined a massive 73 percent in its second outing in North America, suggesting that most of the movie's sizzle came during the first weekend.

Still, the film adaptation of EL James' S&M-laced romance novel has nothing to be embarrassed about. Fifty Shades easily stayed No. 1 everywhere as it raced past the $400 million mark globally, an enviable feat. Domestically, the $40 million film earned $23.2 million for a 10-day total of $130.1 million.

Overseas, Fifty Shades is far more of a powerhouse, declining 57 percent to $68.1 million for a whopping international total of $280.5 million. The movie remained No. 1 in 50 markets.

Everyone was expecting a big falloff in the U.S., considering Fifty Shades' record-breaking $85 million debut over Valentine's Day and Presidents Day weekend, although it declined more than other female-fueled properties based on a book (as an example, The Fault in Our Stars fell 70 percent). Fifty Shades ranks roughly No. 35 on the list of biggest declines.

Fifty Shades, along with holdovers Kingsman: The Secret Service and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, fended off a trio of new offerings at the domestic box office — Hot Tub Time Machine 2, teen comedy The DUFF and the inspirational sports drama McFarland, USA, starring Kevin Costner.

Generally speaking, moviegoing will slow substantially Sunday because of the Academy Award ceremony. Another factor hurting films across the board this weekend was more bad weather on the East Coast, as well as in the Southeast.

Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman stayed No. 2 in its second weekend, falling 52 percent to $17.5 million for a domestic total of $67.1 million.

Paramount's Sponge Out of Water, now in its third weekend, claimed the No. 3 spot with a $15.5 million for a domestic cume of $125.2 million. Overseas, the family film took in another $21 million from 44 markets for a foreign total of $76 million and worldwide cume of $191.2 million.

McFarland, an inspirational sports pic going after families, fared the best of the three new films, narrowly edging out The DUFF with $11.3 million. The movie, nabbing an A CinemaScore, stars Costner as Jim White, the real-life coach who teamed with underdog kids to build a championship cross-country team at McFarland High School, a predominately Hispanic school in McFarland, Calif.

The Disney film, with a $25 million production budget, was originally supposed to open in November. Directed by Niki Caro, McFarland also stars Carlos Pratts, Valente Rodriguez, Maria Bello and Morgan Saylor.

One of the surprises of the weekend was teen comedy The DUFF, which outperformed expectations with $11 million, thanks to girls. Females made up 75 percent of ticket buyers; 68 percent were under the age of 25, while 48 percent were under the age of 18.

The DUFF, costing only $8.5 million to make, marks a fortuitous start for CBS Films and Lionsgate's new distribution and marketing partnership. Mae Whitman (Parenthood) stars as Bianca, who makes herself over after learning she's the "designated ugly fat friend" of two girls who are more popular. The ensemble cast also includes Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne, Bianca A. Santos and Skyler Samuels.

"It shows that if you make something that the female audience wants to see, they really do show up," said CBS Films president Terry Press, who made The DUFF.

From Paramount and MGM, Hot Tub Time Machine is the weekend's big disappointment. It was expected to earn in the mid-teens, but grossed $5.8 million after earning a C- CinemaScore, putting it at No. 7. The good news is that the male-fueled pic cost $14 million to make.


Director Steve Pink's Hot Tub sequel, opening nearly five years after the first film debuted to $14 million, returns most of the original cast, including Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clarke Duke and Chevy Chase, though no John Cusack. Adam Scott appears as a new castmember. This time out, the crew inadvertently land in the future.

At the specialty box office, Sony Pictures Classics opened the Oscar-nominated Wild Tales in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles. The dark comedy, from Argentina, is nominated for best foreign-language film and earned a pleasing $85,131 for a screen average of $21,283, the best of the weekend.

Among Oscar best picture contenders, American Sniper and The Imitation Game both remained in the top 10 with North American totals of $319.6 million and $83.9 million, respectively, the best of the seven films nominated for the top prize. The Theory of Everything crossed the $100 million mark over the weekend, including a domestic total of $34.1 million.