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'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' snares No. 1 at box office

The animated "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" has swung to the top of the domestic box office in its first weekend in theaters, proving there's widespread audience interest in big-screen animated versions of Marvel's marquee superheroes.
Credit: Sony Pictures Animation

LOS ANGELES — The animated "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" has swung to the top of the domestic box office in its first weekend in theaters, proving there's widespread audience interest in big-screen animated versions of Marvel's marquee superheroes.

The film led a host of newcomers that debuted to varying success on this pre-Christmas holiday weekend, including Clint Eastwood's drug smuggling drama "The Mule" and the Peter Jackson-produced epic "Mortal Engines," which bombed in North American theaters.

"Into the Spider-Verse" earned an estimated $35.4 million against a $90 million production budget, according to Sony Pictures on Sunday – a record for animated movies in December, although the hybrid "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movies were higher. The film features an innovative animation style (both CGI and hand-drawn) and focuses on the Miles Morales character as he learns to become the famed web-slinger. It's another financial win for the studio's expanded Spider-Man universe strategy, following "Venom" and "Spider-Man: Homecoming."

"Spider-Verse" has been very well-received among critics, and audiences in exit surveys gave it a rare A-plus on CinemaScore – a first for a Spider-Man film. It's also been nominated for a Golden Globe award for best animated feature and picked up a few honors from critics' groups as well, including the New York Film Critics Circle.

"We are playing to both families and fanboys. We're an all-audience film," says Adrian Smith, Sony's president of domestic distribution.

The film also has an eight-day runway until the big Christmas releases start packing multiplexes.

"The Mule" made its debut in second place with an estimated $17.2 million, a solid start for an R-rated film that cost $50 million to produce. The film drew an audience that was mostly older (78 percent over 35) and male (54 percent).

It's Eastwood's first major role in a film since 2012, and the studio is optimistic about the film's longevity.

Not all the new films were so lucky, however. Coming in fifth behind holdovers "The Grinch" (with $11.6 million) and Disney's animated "Ralph Breaks the Internet" (No. 4, $9.6 million) was "Mortal Engines," which took in only $7.5 million in ticket sales against a reported $100 million production budget. The post-apocalyptic steampunk film is based on the popular Philip Reeve book, the first of four in a series.

Neither critics nor audiences responded favorably to the Christian Rivers-directed film, however, which has a deathly 28 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

This weekend also saw the release ''Once Upon A Deadpool," the PG-13 rated version of "Deadpool 2," in more than 1,500 locations. It earned an estimated $2.6 million, which will be added to the box-office total of "Deadpool 2."

Barry Jenkins' James Baldwin adaptation "If Beale Street Could Talk" opened in four theaters to a very strong $219,000. Jenkins' follow-up to "Moonlight" is expected to be a big player throughout awards season and expands nationwide in the coming weeks.

Historically, this weekend has not been a big one for movie openings, save last year, when "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" opened to $220 million, which is why the weekend overall is down 61 percent from last year and why the year-to-date advantage has fallen slightly to 8.5 percent.

But the industry is still on track for a record year at the box office and has several late-game blockbusters on the way, including "Aquaman," "Transformers" spinoff ''Bumblebee" and "Mary Poppins Returns."

"Aquaman" doesn't hit theaters here until Friday, but the big budget DC superhero movie is already a blockbuster internationally. The film has already earned $261.3 million abroad.

"It's the happiest time of the year for Hollywood. This is when you get that big burst at the end, a lot of people catching up on movies," says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. "It's about momentum, and this momentum should carry into next year."

Final numbers are expected Monday.

Contributing: Kim Willis

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