"Fifty Shades" Film Release Is Pushed to 2015 LOS ANGELES - The movie masses will have to wait a little longer for "Fifty Shades of Grey." In an announcement early Wednesday, Universal Pictures said it would push back its adaptation of the best-selling erotic novel to February 2015. The film, hotly anticipated by fans of the book, was initially scheduled for Aug. 1. The studio did not give a reason for the delay, but it could be that filmmakers needed more time after encountering difficulties securing an actor to play the lead role of Christian Grey, a young executive whose sexual interests lean sharply toward the exotic. The actor Charlie Hunnam agreed to the role and then backed out; last month, Universal replaced him with the Irish actor Jamie Dornan.