Dec 17, 2018 2:14 PM

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Rules the Box Office

Mortal Engines, however, is not faring so well. Plus: details on Netflix's Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and Apple's Peanuts project.

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It's time once again to turn on The Monitor, WIRED's roundup of the latest in the world of culture, from box-office news to announcements about hot new trailers. In today's installment: Spider-Man swings to the top of the box office; Netflix announces the actors landing fizzgigs on its forthcoming Dark Crystal prequel; and good Ol' Charlie Brown comes to Apple.

Spider-Man Is the Weekend Kingpin

Sony's delightful Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse—a hyper-crowded animated adventure featuring teen web-slinger Miles Morales—landed at No. 1 at the US box office over the weekend, nabbing $35 million, fueled by largely positive reviews. The weekend's other Marvel-related release, a newly PG-13 version of Deadpool 2 titled Once Upon a Deadpool, managed a mere $2.6 million—hardly victorious, but not exactly a disaster, considering the R-rated edition has made more than a quarter of a billion worldwide. Still, there was one major movie-theater calamity this weekend: Mortal Engines, the future-shocked sci-fi adventure from Peter Jackson and director Christian Rivers. Despite those creative credentials, and the loyal audience for Philip Reeve's original book series, the big-screen Engines made just $7.5 million—a straight-up apocalyptic figure that means the movie could lose north of $100 million.

Skeksis Natural, Skeksis Good

Netflix has announced the cast for its forthcoming Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, the prequel series to The Dark Crystal, Jim Henson's beloved (and slightly traumatizing) early-'80s puppet adventure. Age of Resistance, which will once again pit the gentile Gelflings against the evil Skeksis, features the voices of Taron Egerton, Anya Taylor-Joy, Game of Thrones' Nathalie Emmanuel, Harvey Fierstein, Mark Hamill, and Keegan-Michael Key, among several others. The new series debuts next year, giving you plenty of time to perfect your Mystic chant.

You're a Good App, Charlie Brown

Apple has landed a deal to produce new series and specials based on Peanuts, Charles M. Schulz's decades-spanning comic strip about a very depressed young man and his strange, irritable dog. They'll join the roster of Apple's long-in-the-works streaming service, which is rumored to debut next year and will also feature projects from such high-profile names as Reese Witherspoon, M. Night Shyamalan, and Damien Chazelle. Good grief!