Thwip-ing its way strongly into the holiday break, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse webbed up a solid $35.4 million in its debut weekend, the strongest opening ever for an animated film in December. Warner Bros.' Aquaman looms on the horizon next week to distract the comic book crowd, but Into the Spider-Verse—which cost a reported $90 million to make—should be in for a good Christmas-time run, bolstered by an A+ Cinemascore and an audience made up of families.

Directed by Bob Persichetti, Rodney Rothman, and Peter Ramsey, Into the Spider-Verse stars Shameik Moore as Miles Morales, the first half-African American, half-Puerto Rican character to lead a superhero film.

Meanwhile, Clint Eastwood's The Mule plodded along to a strong $17 million, the third best wide opening for an Eastwood-directed film behind 2016's Sully and 2000's Space Cowboy. Eastwood also stars as the real-life ninety-year-old drug-runner Earl Stone, in the actor's first on-screen role since Trouble With the Curve in 2012. Shockingly (not shockingly) more than half of The Mule's opening weekend audience was over the age of 50.

Director Christian Rivers' steampunk epic Mortal Engines has already lost its momentum, sputtering out of the gate in fifth place with $7.5 million. Produced by Lord of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson, the film depicts a post-apocalyptic world in which major cities have been transformed into massive moving vehicles. Unfortunately, putting London up on a set of wheels ain't cheap, as the film cost a reported $100 million to produce. Normally, a movie like Mortal Engines could have hope in the worldwide box office but, again, Aquaman has already speared a massive $200 million overseas.

At the specialty box office, Larry Jenkins' lush romance If Beale Street Could Talk ruled the weekend, opening on four screens for a per-theater average of $54,796.

Check out the weekend's top 10 estimates below, and be back here next week to see Aquaman do undersea battle with Mary Poppins Returns.

Rank

Title

Weekend

Total

1.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

$35,400,000

$34,400,000

2.

The Mule  

$17,210,000

$17,210,000

3.

Dr. Seuss' The Grinch    

$11,580,000

$239,288,710

4.

Ralph Breaks the Internet

$9,589,000

$154,464,878

5.

Mortal Engines  

$7,501,000

$7,501,000

6.

Creed 2   

$5,398,830

$104,882,976

7.

Bohemian Rhapsody   

$4,125,000

$180,423,200

8.

Instant Family  

$3,720,000

$60,218,054

9.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald 

$3,650,000

$151,653,410

10.

Green Book   

$2,780,000

$24,660,366

spider-man-into-the-spider-verse-movie-image
Image via Sony Pictures
mule-clint-eastwood
Image via Warner Bros.
mortal-engines-image-6
Image via Universal Pictures