Fifty Shades Darker’ Trailer Spanks Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Record

Within its first 24-hours, the debut trailer for Universal's Fifty Shades Darker, which premiered online (Facebook and YouTube) at 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, racked up 114 million views, spanking the previous record of 112 million that was set by Disney's Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

"North American accounted for 39.4 million views, the studio said, with the remaining 74.6 million coming from the more than 30 international markets that supported localized trailers," Deadline reports. "Topping the non-U.S. leaderboard were U.K. (18.9 million), Brazil (12.4 million), France (9.8 million), Mexico (6.8 million) and Italy (6 million)."

The strong international interest in the Fifty Shades Darker' trailer shouldn't be surprising since 70% ($404.8 million) of the $560 million global take for 2015's Fifty Shades of Grey came from the overseas box office.

Also of note: The Fifty Shades Darker' trailer was viewed 2.5 million times on the film's official Facebook page in its first hour of release.

Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson return as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades Darker, the second chapter based on the worldwide bestselling Fifty Shades phenomenon. Expanding upon events set in motion in 2015's blockbuster film that grossed more than $560 million globally, the new installment arrives for Valentine's Day and invites you to slip into something a shade darker.

When a wounded Christian Grey tries to entice a cautious Ana Steele back into his life, she demands a new arrangement before she will give him another chance. As the two begin to build trust and find stability, shadowy figures from Christian's past start to circle the couple, determined to destroy their hopes for a future together.

Also returning from Fifty Shades of Grey are Academy Award® winner Marcia Gay Harden, Jennifer Ehle, Luke Grimes, Rita Ora, Victor Rasuk, Eloise Mumford and Max Martini, who are joined for the first time by Oscar® winner Kim Basinger, Hugh Dancy, Bella Heathcote and Eric Johnson.

Fifty Shades Darker is directed by James Foley (Fear, House of Cards) and once again produced by Michael De Luca, Dana Brunetti and Marcus Viscidi, alongside E L James, the creator of the culture-spanning blockbuster series. The screenplay is by Niall Leonard, based on the book by James.

Fifty Shades Darker will be released on February 10, 2017.