We all like to snicker at the “Fifty Shades of Grey” series. It gets terrible reviews. Right now it’s at 10 on Rotten Tomatoes.

But last night part 3– “Fifty Shades of Freed”– drew $5.6 million in preview showings. That’s roughly what Part 2 did in previews. “Fifty Shades Darker” scored a total worldwide $381 million, $114 million of that in the US. There was no restraining it!

Remember, “Freed” was shot simultaneously with “Darker,” so the costs are way down for this last go round. “Darker” made $21.4 mil on its Thurs-Fri total opening. So we’ll see how the new one has done in the AM. There’s not much out there this weekend as everyone waits for “Black Panther.” Considering how nasty the critics have been (not me) to Clint Eastwood, if “15:17 to Paris” makes anything this weekend, it’s a success. Go see it for yourselves.

A really terrible Hollywood tragedy today: Jill Messick, formerly Rose McGowan’s manager and also an executive producer of several Miramax movies, committed suicide at age 50. She had battled depression for a long time, and was caught in the crossfire in the Harvey Weinstein-McGowan scandal.

Messick executive produced both “She’s All That” and “Frida” at Miramax. But just prior to that she’d been McGowan’s manager, credited with sending her to Weinstein’s suite in Sundance in 1997. It was there that McGowan said she was raped after getting into Weinstein’s hot tub.

Less than ten days ago, on January 30th, Weinstein’s lawyer, Ben Brafman, offered an email Messick had sent regarding this episode. It seemed to exonerate Weinstein  and caused a furor. Brafman said: “In an email to Mr. Weinstein regarding the encounter, Jill Messick says the following, “When we met up the following day, she hesitantly told me of her own accord that during the meeting that night before she had gotten into a hot tub with Mr. Weinstein. She was very clear about the fact that getting into that hot tub was something that she did consensually and that in hindsight it was also something that she regretted having done.”

Messick’s family now says the reveal of the email, and the ensuing bad publicity, was the last straw for her. This is tragic. They wrote in a statement: “Jill was victimized by our new culture of unlimited information sharing and a willingness to accept statement as fact. The speed of disseminating information has carried mistruths about Jill as a person, which she was unable and unwilling to challenge. She became collateral damage in an already horrific story.”

They continued:

“Five years ago, Jill suffered a manic episode. Anyone familiar with bipolar disorder knows that it is a cruel and vicious disease. With the help of doctors, her family and friends, Jill rebounded. Jill had fought to put her life back together. After a long job search, she was in negotiations to run the production division for a new entertainment company.

Seeing her name in headlines again and again, as part of one person’s attempt to gain more attention for her personal cause, along with Harvey’s desperate attempt to vindicate himself, was devastating for her. It broke Jill, who was just starting to get her life back on track.”

Condolences to her family.

EXCLUSIVE:  Shia LaBeouf once told an interviewer that when he was a child star his father’s pet name for him was “Honey Boy.”

Now LaBeouf is making a movie about his childhood and his relationship with his father. It’s called “Honey Boy” and he wrote it himself. His alter ego is called Otis Lort.

This is the description of the movie: “Otis Lort is a 12 year old kid who’s a rising star on television — but his life revolves around his father James, a man with a past so checkered they might as well paint it black. An ex-con, a recovering drug addict, James is an unemployable trainwreck, a narcissist, a terrific conversationalist, but an utterly unreliable father. Ten years later, 22 year old Otis is well on his way to being a trainwreck himself: he’s almost unemployable in the movie industry, he’s diagnosed as suffering from childhood PTSD, & he’s having a hard time preparing himself for the biggest event of his life: the imminent meeting with his father who he hasn’t seen for years.”

There are many weird things here, of course. The screenplay is credited to Shia and to “Otis Lort,” the same name as the character. It’s unclear if Lort is a pseudonym for Shia’s real life father, Jeffrey laBeouf, or Shia, or just an inside joke. In the screenplay, Otis’s father is named James, who is “an ex-Rodeo Clown, an ex-convict with a rape conviction hanging over his head & a long history of drug addiction, alcoholism and narcissism.”

Otis, the character, grows up to age 22 after starring in a children’s TV series– as Shia did in Disney’s “Even Stevens.” He is now “a leading star in big Hollywood films, a professional actor for half his young life. On the set, he is focused and fine-tuned, like an owl statue but in real life he has internalized his father’s anger, insecurity & alcoholism.”

Israeli commercial director Alma Harel is said to be taking this project on. Producers are Brian Kavanaugh and Chris Leggett.

Not one, not two, but three Charles Manson movies are coming. One of them, by Quentin Tarantino, however, is in jeopardy at Sony and may not get made at all.

Mary Harron, whose “I Shot Andy Warhol” is one of the great indie classics (cinematography by Ellen Kuras, Jared Harris in a landmark performane, Lili Taylor OMG good), is making “Charlie Says” with Matt Smith of “Dr. Who” and “The Crown” fame.

Hillary Duff has signed to play Sharon Tate, the late Mrs. Roman Polanski, murdered by the Manson family, in “The Haunting of Sharon Tate.” That one sounds like it’s straight to Lifetime, though.

The third Manson movie is the one from Quentin Tarantino with a $200 million plus budget and loads of stars– Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Tom Cruise– said to be involved.

But now I’m hearing that Sony is having second thoughts because of Tarantino’s double trouble in the press. First there was Uma Thurman’s accusations that her pal, Quentin, allowed her to film a scene in which she was seriously injured for “Kill Bill.” Thurman has back pedaled a bit since this started, and Quentin did a mea culpa, but it’s out there.

Then it was revealed on the Jezebel website that back in 2003, Tarantino told Howard Stern that 13 year old Samantha Geimer “wanted it” when she had sex with Polanski in 1977. Stern– otherwise irreverent– sounds startled on the tape when Tarantino asserts that what Polanski did to Geimer was just statutory rape. “You know all these 13 year old party girls,” Tarantino says.

Tarantino may have to find independent financing for his “Manson” movie at this point, especially if he was planning on depicting the Polanski story. (There’s some idea Cruise would play Polanski, although the Manson-Tate story takes place nine years before the Geimer episode.)

All of this is made possible by Manson himself having the good sense to die last year, clearing the way for lots of movies to be produced about his crazy self without interference.

Don’t believe the mixed or bad reviews coming in early for Clint Eastwood’s “15:17 to Paris.” I saw it tonight, and like A.O. Scott in the New York Times, I found it fascinating and much more complicated than a snarky dismissal.

You know, I’m Jewish and liberal, so “patriotic” and “Christian” aren’t two of the things I warm to in movies necessarily. But Eastwood’s take on these real life heroes is not simplistic. The real life people playing themselves as heroes on the train from Amsterdam to Paris– I was braced for a bad movie. And I will say, it starts slowly and it’s totally not what you expect. Nevertheless, if you’re patient with it, you quickly realize several things.

First of, the real guys are not bad. I’ve seen worse. Compared to Louis CK’s unreleased “I Love You, Daddy,” the acting and writing here is Shakespearean.

Second, Eastwood– as he did in “American Sniper” and “Sully”– lays out their stories and backgrounds objectively. I’m already seeing in some reviews some idea that Eastwood is pushing a religious agenda or whatever. Nonsense. He’s accurately depicting these people. The mothers of the guys are religious– this is what they believe, it’s their right. No one is mocking them or judging them. This is who they are. And kudos to Jenna Fischer and Judy Greer for finding the mothers’ dimensions.

If there’s a problem with “15:17” it’s that it’s almost filmed like cinema verite, certainly as the story unfolds. There’s a lot of exposition and it seems slow. Again, a little patience wouldn’t hurt anyone. Because when the kids’ backstories switch to the main guys, Eastwood finds a groove. Forgive him if the entry seems clunky.

A lot of the movie hands on Spencer Stone, the main hero of the three Sacramento friends. He pushed his real life buddies (Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler) to take this trip with him through Europe when he got time off from the Air Force. By coincidence, I met Stone briefly. After all this happened, and before he made this movie starring as himself, he came to the NY Opening of Steven Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies.” He was very affable. I would never have guessed he could confidently carry himself through a narrative film, reciting dialogue and moving comfortably through scenes. This is quite an accomplishment.

Ditto Skarlatos and Sadler– Sadler, especially, seems like a natural. Eastwood does not suffer fools easily and wouldn’t have proceeded if he weren’t certain they could pull this off. And they do. To help the guys, Clint surrounds them with solid actors– Fischer, Greer, Thomas Lennon. There’s even a little bit from Jaleel White, the once and former Urkel of 80s TV fame. He acquits himself nicely. Eastwood once told me he likes “get up and go” type actors, ones who can snap to and do what he needs. In “15:17” he has amateurs and pros all doing that. He really pulled it off.

I don’t know if “15:17” will one day be considered great art– I consider “Unforgiven” and “Gran Torino” great art– or an interesting experiment. But it’s well worth paying attention to. Eastwood obviously saw a lot in these guys– two of them as children are thought to have ADD, they’re screw ups, etc. And in the end, maybe with prayer, with military training and maturity, they reacted in a moment and made America proud, and themselves proud.

And as for Clint– he’s eighty seven years old. This list of films in his ninth decade is utterly remarkable. This is the sixth movie he’s directed in eight years. Hello? Not all perfect– “Invictus” didn’t thrill me. But overall, there’s an extreme brilliance to his lean, mean execution of stories he knows will resonate in the heartland. Very, very cool.

Read today’s headlines– Kenneth Cole Out at amfAR, Raul Esparza out at Law & Order SVU– click here

I don’t subscribe to Rotten Tomatoes, but Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther” has a 100 there as of today and I second that emotion. If this– following “Wonder Woman” — were the last super hero comic movie, I’d be happy. That’s because it’s the top of the heap, the one that was missing and now we’ve got it. Coogler– director of “Fruitvale Station” and “Creed” — has outdone himself and Marvel. This could be Marvel’s mic drop. What else is there to say?

Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan are rivals in the magic make believe African world of Wakanda. They are the Black Panther and his nemesis, Erik Killmonger. Think sort of Thor and Loki. Then there are the women around them, who rule them and run the show (although I don’t think they get that yet) played by Lupita Nyongo, Danai Gurai and Letitia Wright. These women are so terrific they could be spun off into their own movie, frankly. Plus we get Sterling K. Brown– the new male Meryl Streep– as value added.

Wakanda is an oasis, technologically forward and hidden in Africa. Boseman is T’Challa, who returns home to become king when his father dies. He summons the super powers of the Black Panther only to be challenged by Killmonger and other evil forces. That’s the basic idea, and it’s not much different from a lot of comic book movies.

But here we are in Africa, with an all star black cast, and a screenplay that is full of humor and spice. It’s the reverse of every other super hero movie you’ve ever seen in that there are basically two white characters– played by Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman– and  they are secondary to the rest of the cast. Serkis resumes his “Avengers: Age of Ultron” character of evil Ulysses Klaw, Freeman resumes his role as Agent Everett K, Ross from “Captain America: Civil War” (and it wouldn’t hurt to watch that latter movie again).

Otherwise, we are getting the creme de la creme: Angela Bassett, Forest Whittaker, Daniel Kaluuya, plus a cameo from Stan Lee. Everyone is at the top of their game. Coogler is smart– “Black Panther” is less tongue in cheek than some of the more recent Marvel offerings. This gang plays it straight because the premise is so much more Earth-bound. And Oscar nominee (“Mudbound”) Rachel Morrison’s cinematography is sensational and delicious– she’s using a palette far from the red, white and blue of “Captain America” but sharp and bright and rich.

Look for “Black Panther” to draw audiences from all over, and to usher in a new era of multicultural comic book movies. Or movies, period.

PS Yes, there is a Marvel teaser at the end. I won’t give it away.But it means you must sit through all of the end credits. And they are long.

The Berlin Film Festival will feature a special presentation: a documentary about singer Ed Sheeran made by his cousin. Will it talk about his various plagiarism problems? What do you think? The cousin, Murray Cummings, specializes in films about…Ed Sheeran.

In better news, Berlin will give Willem Dafoe a Lifetime Achievement Award. If you haven’t seen “The Florida Project” by now, it’s your fault. I’ve told you how good it is over and over.

Here are the films in competition:

3 Tage in Quiberon (3 Days in Quiberon) by Emily Atef (Germany / Austria / France)
7 Days in Entebbe by José Padilha (USA / United Kingdom) – Out of competition
Ága by Milko Lazarov (Bulgaria / Germany / France) – Out of competition
Ang Panahon ng Halimaw (Season of the Devil) by Lav Diaz (Philippines)
Black 47 by Lance Daly (Ireland / Luxembourg) – Out of competition
Damsel by David Zellner and Nathan Zellner (USA)
Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot by Gus Van Sant (USA)
Dovlatov by Alexey German Jr. (Russian Federation / Poland / Serbia)
Eldorado by Markus Imhoof (Switzerland / Germany) – Documentary, out of competition
Eva by Benoit Jacquot (France / Belgium)
Figlia mia (Daughter of Mine) by Laura Bispuri (Italy / Germany / Switzerland)
Las herederas (The Heiresses) by Marcelo Martinessi (Paraguay / Uruguay / Germany / Brazil / Norway / France) – First Feature
In den Gängen (In the Aisles) by Thomas Stuber (Germany)
Isle of Dogs by Wes Anderson (United Kingdom / Germany) – Animation
Khook (Pig) by Mani Haghighi (Iran)
Mein Bruder heißt Robert und ist ein Idiot (My Brother’s Name is Robert and He is an Idiot) by Philip Gröning (Germany / France / Switzerland)
Museo (Museum) by Alonso Ruizpalacios (Mexico)
La prière (The Prayer) by Cédric Kahn (France)
Toppen av ingenting (The Real Estate) by Måns Månsson and Axel Petersén (Sweden / United Kingdom)
Touch Me Not by Adina Pintilie (Romania / Germany / Czech Republic / Bulgaria / France) – First Feature
Transit by Christian Petzold (Germany / France)
Twarz (Mug) by Małgorzata Szumowska (Poland)
Unsane by Steven Soderbergh (USA) – Out of competition
Utøya 22. juli (U – July 22) by Erik Poppe (Norway)

Berlinale Special films:

AMERICA Land of the FreeKS by Ulli Lommel (Germany / USA) – Documentary Form
The Bookshop by Isabel Coixet (Spain / United Kingdom / Germany)
Gurrumul by Paul Williams (Australia) – Documentary, debut film
The Happy Prince by Rupert Everett (Germany / Belgium / Italy)
The Interpreter by Martin Šulík (Slovak Republic / Czech Republic / Austria)
Monster Hunt 2 by Raman Hui (People’s Republic of China / Hong Kong, China)
RYŪICHI SAKAMOTO: async AT THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY by Stephen Nomura Schible (USA / Japan) – Documentary
Das schweigende Klassenzimmer (The Silent Revolution) by Lars Kraume (Germany)
Songwriter by Murray Cummings (United Kingdom) – Documentary
Unga Astrid (Becoming Astrid) by Pernille Fischer Christensen (Sweden / Germany / Denmark)
Usedom – Der freie Blick aufs Meer by Heinz Brinkmann (Germany) – Documentary
Viaje a los Pueblos Fumigados (A Journey to the Fumigated Towns) by Fernando Solanas (Argentina) – Documentary

Berlinale Special – Berlinale Series:

Bad Banks – Director: Christian Schwochow – Head writer: Oliver Kienle, based on a concept by Lisa Blumenberg (Germany / Luxembourg)
Heimebane (Home Ground) – Creator: Johan Fasting – Director: Arild Andresen (Norway)
Liberty – Creator: Asger Leth – Director: Mikael Marcimain (Denmark)
The Looming Tower – Creators: Dan Futterman, Alex Gibney, Lawrence Wright – Director: Alex Gibney – Written by Dan Futterman, based on the book by Lawrence Wright (USA)
Picnic at Hanging Rock – Director: Larysa Kondracki (episodes 1-3) – Written by Beatrix Christian, Alice Addison (Australia)
Sleeping Bears – Creator and director: Keren Margalit (Israel)
The Terror – Showrunners: David Kajganich and Soo Hugh – Director: Edward Berger (episodes 1-3), (USA)