Independent essays and ideasAboutContactDeutsch

Fifty Shades is on track to earn $500 million

12-fold return for the movie version of the world's favorite 'mummy porn'.

This article is published in partnership with Time.com. The original version can be found here.

Fifty Shades of Grey has earned $338.4 million from international box offices, becoming Universal Studios’ highest-grossing R-rated film internationally, and is fast approaching a combined domestic and international haul of $500 million–a more than 12-fold return on a reported production budget of $40 million.

The film has also been number one for the third consecutive week in a row, and is the best-selling film of the year so far.

Its $338.4 million overseas earnings now outrank Universal’s previous best-performing R-rated international hit, Ted, which earned $332.4 million. Domestic earnings of $147.8 million mean the film has earned $486 million so far.

The largest foreign market for the film has been the U.K., where it has earned $46.9 million.