“FIFTY Shades of Grey,” the long-anticipated movie version of the best-selling erotic novel, began its worldwide rollout Wednesday.

    Unusually, the studio bringing it out, Universal Pictures, did not allow reviewers to see the film until the last minute. That fueled rumors of trouble on set caused by the two lead actors detesting each other, and female director Sam Taylor-Johnson and the book’s British author E.L. James arguing over how scenes should be shot.

    The tens of millions of hardcore fans of the 2011 novel and its two sequels will no doubt crowd the opening days of the movie’s showing, ignoring once again the critics who have rubbished the story as dull and thin of plot.

    The story focuses on Christian Grey, who despite his 27 years is accomplished in a staggering number of fields. He is a billionaire tycoon at the head of a sprawling empire that boasts his name, an athletic kickboxer, a deft helicopter pilot and a virtuoso pianist. And of course, he is extraordinarily handsome. The dark secret he carries is a penchant for sadistic-style sex.

    Dornan, a 32-year-old married British actor and former male model, picked up the leading role after the first choice, fellow Brit actor Charlie Hunnam, who stars in the U.S. television series “Sons of Anarchy,” dropped out.

    Dornan’s co-lead, as the shy literature student Anastasia Steele who ultimately proves to be Grey’s sexual equal and succor, is Johnson, the 25-year-old daughter of actress Melanie Griffith and “Miami Vice” actor Don Johnson.

    “At heart, it’s a simple love story,” novelist James said of her story, which has sold 100 million copies internationally. “The sex scenes made headlines, but it’s the love story that touched the readers.”

    Although the movie bares flesh and suggests the rough bondage, it limits to 20 minutes the screen time of the sex-play and aims for scenes that are more aesthetically composed than graphic.

    Yet cliches of ice cubes and feathers brushed over skin and the hints of more happening off-camera have still earned the movie an R rating in the United States.

    With so much attention on the film, some groups against domestic violence have urged a boycott, arguing that it glamorizes the abuse of women. One association is calling itself “Fifty Shades Is Domestic Abuse,” British media reported.

    But those groups are being rivaled by others keen to cash in on what is hoped to be a boom in tie-me-up eroticism — all in the lead-up to Valentine’s Day this weekend.

    Though it remains to be seen if the success of the “Grey” franchise will endure, MTV reported on its website last week that moves are already under way to turn the two sequels of the book into films.(SD-Agencies)