According to Variety, Ghostbusters debuted this weekend to a solid $46 million from 3,962 locations. Sony hailed the results as evidence that audiences were responding to its new take on the decades-old property. Ranking as the best debut for a live-action comedy in over a year, the audience for the film skewed female, with women making up 54% of ticket buyers. It also resonated more strongly with older crowds, weaned on the 1984 original and its 1989 sequel, as 55% of the audience clocked in over the age of 25.

Ghostbusters received a B+ rating from moviegoers (A- from the audience under 25!), so it should have a good word-of-mouth and strong legs in the coming weeks. That’s something the film will need, as well as resonate with foreign audiences, to make a profit. After all, dusting off the ectoplasm was expensive, with Sony shelling out $144 million to make Ghostbusters and millions more to market the film. Hopefully the audience will continue watching it in the coming weeks as well.

“This is the biggest opening for a live-action comedy in over a year and we reached a wide audience that’s both new and nostalgic,” said Sony marketing and distribution chief Josh Greenstein, who is over the moon this morning. “Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones made it fresh. I have to give credit to (producers) Amy Pascal and Ivan Reitman who cast the four brilliant leads. We’ve successfully restarted this important brand, and we’re ecstatic in the wake of the $100M-plus opening of The Secret Life Of Pets. We have room to run as we are the only live-action comedy in the market. We here at Sony commend Paul Feig on a brilliant job with Ghostbusters”