‘Spider-Verse’ casts a wide web
Animated flick creeps to top of box office.
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 premiered 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 both CGI and hand-drawn) and focuses on the Miles Morales character as he learns to become the web-slinger.
“Spider-Verse” has been well-received among critics, and audiences in exit surveys gave it a rare A-plus on Cinema-Score – a first for a Spider-Man film. It also has 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.
“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 older than 35) and male (54 percent).
Not all the new films were so lucky. 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 respon- ded favorably to the Christian Rivers-directed film, which has a 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 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.
Final numbers are expected Monday.