Sam Taylor-Johnson, Fifty Shades of Grey director, quits the franchise

Sam Taylor-Johnson, the director of the hugely successful Fifty Shades of Grey movie, announced Wednesday that she won't return to direct the film's sequels.

The BDSM fantasy, based on E.L James's bestselling novels, has grossed more than $558-million US worldwide since its release on Feb. 13. Despite the franchise's success, Taylor-Johnson says she's bowing out.

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"While I will not be returning to direct the sequels," she said in a statement published in The Hollywood Reporter, "I wish nothing but success to whosoever takes on the exciting challenges of films two and three."

Battles on set

The 48-year-old British-born filmmaker has been open about her creative rifts with James during production that were so bad some thought she might quit before the film was made.

​"We battled all the way through," Taylor-Johnson told Vanity Fair in February. "[James would] say the same. There were tough times and revelatory times. There were sparring contests. It was definitely not an easy process."

The film's stars, Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, are set to reprise their respective roles as the virginal Anastasia Steele and dominating billionaire Christian Grey in the sequels.

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The films, like the books, trace the seduction and evolving relationship between Steele and Grey.

But the studio will have to find someone else to write the upcoming adaptations because screenwriter Kelly Marcel is also not expected to return.