Sony moved the release date several times before finally settling for a pre-Christmas release at the end of 2018. All things considered, it was a pretty busy month, but “Spider-Man: Into the Spider- Verse” found a sweet little home on Dec. 14, 2018. Thankfully, the film arrived on a near-universal wave of praise far beyond anyone’s expectations.

The film opened at number one, albeit with a somewhat modest $35.3 million, which isn’t necessarily a great weekend by superhero movie standards. Sony took advantage of Universal’s “Mortal Engines” dropping over the weekend, while Clint Eastwood’s “The Mule” settled for number two. Meanwhile, “The Grinch,” “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” and “Creed II” were running out of gas.

Even with huge competition in the following weeks which included “Aquaman” (highest-grossing DC movie of all time), “Bumblebee”, “Mary Poppins Returns” and “Vice”, the film directed by the trio Bob Persichetti, Rodney Rothman and Peter Ramsey held firm. Against a very reasonable budget (especially considering how good it looks) of $90 million, the film ended its run with $190.2 million domestically and $185.3 million internationally for a total of $375.5 million worldwide.

Again, that’s little compared to other great comic book movies, but it was more than enough to justify the investment. Especially considering the critical darling the film has become. It even won Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, which was a pretty big surprise. Although not the original intention, the success served as an investment in the future, as the film’s audience grew significantly in the few years after its original release. It’s the kind of win any studio would kill for. It’s a calling card that Sony can point to and say, “We did it and you didn’t.”