"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," Sony`s newest chapter in the webslinger series, soared to North American box office domination in its weekend debut, Sunday estimates showed, cementing the resilience of one of Hollywood`s biggest superhero juggernauts.
The animated offering featuring the voices of Shameik Moore, Haille Steinfeld and Issa Rae netted a cool $120 million domestically for the Friday-through-Sunday period, and another $88 million internationally, according to industry watcher Exhibitor Relations.
"This is an exceptionally good opening for an animation follow-up sequel," said analyst David A. Gross, adding the sequel has an "entirely fresh" look and is an example of "inspired commercial filmmaking."
The film picks up the story of half-Black, half-Latino Miles Morales, using an eye-popping blend of decades-old 2D comic book drawing techniques with the latest computer-generated visual effects.
Spidey dethroned Disney`s live-action version of "The Little Mermaid," which raked in a similar amount in its debut the previous weekend and followed up with $40.6 million.
The remake of the 1989 animated tale of an underwater princess who gives up her voice in pursuit of true love on land stars pop singer Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, and Melissa McCarthy as the villainous Ursula.
"The Boogeyman" debuted in third with $12.3 million. The 20th Century Studios horror/mystery feature is the latest in a long line of films adapted from a Stephen King book, and one of its producers shepherded the hit show "Stranger Things" onto the small screen.
Slipping one spot to fourth was Disney`s "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" which added $10 million to its cumulative worldwide total of some $780 million.
Universal`s action film "Fast X," part of the "Fast & Furious" franchise, held fifth spot, earning $9.2 million.
