Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them may not have landed with the big explosion that Warner Bros. was hoping for. With its $74 million opening, it stands as the least successful opening weekend of any film set in the Wizarding World (with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix coming in at a close second with a $77 million opening). Yet unlike many of the Harry Potter films, Fantastic Beasts did not suffer an egregious dropoff in its second weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, the film only had a 39% drop in its second weekend, which implies that the film may, in fact, have the staying power to ensure that its success.

If that wasn’t enough, Warner Bros. has nowannounced that the film has officially hit the $500 million mark at the box office, bringing it one step closer to being a profitable endeavor (via Deadline). According to the studio, the film has earned $161 million domestically and $344 million overseas for a current total of $505 million. Given its budget of $180 million, a marketing budget that is likely to match that, and taking into account the cut theaters take of the grosses, it’s likely the film will need to hit around $520 million in order to break even. With that in mind, the film has either already crossed over into the black (assuming a margin of error for my rough calculations), or will do so in this coming weekend, which is great news for everyone involved.

At the very least, this implies that the hunger for stories set in the Wizarding World is very real, and that fan response to Fantastic Beasts has generally been positive (it has an A CinemaScore). In addition to the positive word of mouth regarding the film itself, it likely also helps that the buzz regarding the expanding story has officially made its way into the pop culture zeitgeist, potentially prompting doubters to go check out the film, simply so they won’t be left out of the conversation in the years to come.

What do you think of this news? Does Fantastic Beasts deserve all the money it’s getting, and how much do you think it’ll make by the end of its run in theaters? Let us know all your thoughts down below!

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is out in theaters now!

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SOURCES: Deadline, Box Office Mojo