After winning a serious bidding war for the rights to Fifty Shades of Grey, Universal and Focus Features are revving up to continue the battle to the big screen.  50 Shades will hit theaters August 1, 2014, which is the same day of Marvel’s release for Guardians of the Galaxy.

The announcement today, which was posted on the film’s official Facebook page, comes one week after it was reported that Sam Taylor-Johnson signed on to direct the first installment of the trilogy.  Her attachment was met with praise as Taylor-Johnson vowed to “honor the power” of the book series by E.L. James.  Taylor-Johnson will be filming a screenplay penned by Kelly Marcel, best known known for her work on the FOX-TV series Terra Nova and the upcoming Saving Mr. Banks.

Following this recent news, the highly-anticipated adaptation seems to be moving forward at full steam.  The one exception, however, is that rumors are still buzzing as to who will play the two lead parts.  With a barely over a year to go into production, finish post-production, and market the film, there are still no actors attached for the starring roles of billionaire BDSM devotee Christian Grey and his young protegee Anastasia Steele.

The release date is indeed a bit curious, but you have to wonder how much of an audience overlap there is between a space faring superhero movie (that by all accounts should be fairly light-hearted) and the film adaptation of a book many consider softcore porn. We’ll have to wait until next summer to see for sure.