Fifty Shades Darker dominates Valentine's Day

“Fifty Shades Darker” was a huge Valentine's Day winner at the box office, earning $11 million on Tuesday.

That was more than double the next closest film, “The Lego Batman Movie” ($5 million). And it's one of the best showings of all time for when the sweethearts' holiday falls on a weekday, almost matching record-holder “The Vow”, which pulled in $11.5 million on Valentine's Day in 2012, also a Tuesday.

From Universal and based on EL James' S&M book series, “Fifty Shades Darker” has earned $61.5 million in its first five days, slightly ahead of the $60.8 million grossed by Warner Bros.' “Lego Batman”. Both films debuted in North America on Feb. 10.

The sequel, however, continues to pace behind the original “Fifty Shades of Grey”, which earned $98.5 million in its first five days. The first movie had the advantage of opening over Presidents Day weekend in 2014, when Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday.

Universal is counting on “Fifty Shades Darker” being a slower burn than Fifty Shades of Grey, which dropped a steep 74 percent in its second weekend.

Lionsgate also touted “La La Land” as a Valentine's Day destination. The musical dramedy placed no. 6 with $1.5 million, a big jump over the $522,534 earned on Monday. The Oscar front-runner has earned nearly $128 million domestically and north of $300 million worldwide.

Generally speaking, a number of films saw a boost. “John Wick: Chapter 2” placed No. 3 behind “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Lego Batman” for a five-day domestic total of $37.9 million. M Night Syhamalan's “Split” followed, while box-office hit “Hidden Figures” rounded out the top five in North America.