It’s possible that even Warner Bros. and New Line weren’t expecting “It” to become a massive hit. It doesn’t fit the profile of a runaway smash in many ways — it had a troubled production that involved original director Cary Fukunaga leaving the project, its biggest-name draw is Stellan Skarsgard’s second most famous son, Stephen King adaptations haven’t been box office hits for a while (“The Dark Tower” tanked just last month), and it’s not a sequel.
But the traumatic memories of Stephen King’s seminal book and the Tim Curry-starring miniseries, the sheer terrifying nature of clowns, and the surprisingly excellent reviews for a horror movie, have been undeniable, and the film’s on course for a mammoth opening this weekend — it took over $13 million at its Thursday night previews, the third biggest such figure of the year behind only “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2” and “Beauty & The Beast,” and the best ever for the horror genre — not bad, for a post-Labor Day weekend that’s often one of the year’s quietest.
So there’s not much surprise to the news that the studio is officially making strides towards getting a sequel made — for one thing, Andres Muschietti’s film only adapts the first half of King’s mammoth book. But The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that work is formally underway, with writer Gary Dauberman, who shares credit for the script with Chase Palmer and Cary Fukunaga, now beginning on ‘Chapter Two’ of the story.
Given that Fukunaga originally intended to shoot both parts back-to-back, and that the trailer broke records when it first debuted, it’s surprising that New Line hasn’t been more bullish about the follow-up: reportedly just a few weeks back, no creative team was set for the project, and even now Muschetti’s deal to direct a sequel hasn’t closed yet. But once the money starts rolling in, it sounds like that’ll happen quickly.
“It: Chapter Two” is likely to switch up most of the cast bar Bill Skarsgard as the demonic Pennywise, as it’s set thirty years after the original, but it shouldn’t be ruled out that we’ll see the young kids turn up again in some form. There’s no firm release date for the project yet, but the studio is said to be targeting a 2019 date, which makes sense if work’s only just getting underway. In the meantime, enjoy being terrified by “It” if you’re heading to the theater this weekend.
Saw IT today. Loved it.