“It” Shows That Terrifying Clowns Will Make Bank At The Box Office
Just like Sarah Paulson’s shrieky character on American Horror Story Cult, everyone is scared of clowns. Also, we’re all masochists. This is why the film adaption of Stephen King’s million-page scary clown horror epic It cleaned up this weekend. Pennywise the Dancing Clown’s creep show smashed some box office records on the way to what looks like an opening weekend of more than $100 million according to Variety, Deadline and Box Office Mojo.
It was predicted to snag $65 million to $75 million at the box office. So executives at Warner Bros and New Line are wearing bozo wigs while snorting the really expensive coke right now in celebration. Most of Summer 2017’s blockbuster flicks tanked at the box office, so Variety is declaring “the two-month domestic box office drought” as over due to It’s success.
It opened at some theaters in a late Thursday night preview, which made 13.5 million alone. (Really? You’re going to venture out of your house near the witching hour to watch a clown eat children? You’re sick.) It officially opened at $51 million on Friday, which makes it the second largest domestic opening for an R-rated movie. (Ryan Reynolds getting pegged in Deadpool currently holds that title.)
The records that IT DID break include “largest Thursday pre-show opening for an R-rated movie and a horror movie,” as well as “largest Friday opening for a movie released in September.”
Deadline thinks it’ll end up with at least $123 million after today, and Variety and Box Office Mojo think it’ll close at $117.2 million.
As a King fan, I’ve long despised the TV miniseries adaption of It from 1990. Tim Curry was pretty good, but watching Jack Tripper and the judge from Night Court verbally joust with a disembodied head in a mini-fridge was laughable. Everyone I know who’s seen the movie said it’s pretty damn good so this is exciting. The sequel is inevitable, and will reportedly follow the book and feature the now grown-kids once again fighting Alexander Skarsgård’s little brother Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise. I’m guessing another reason for IT‘s success was that they nixed including the completely disturbing underaged orgy scene from King’s book. It’s a safe bet that sort of content doesn’t usually translate into box office dollars.
The rest of this weekend’s domestic box office looks like this:
- It – $117.2 million
- Home Again – $9 million
- The Hitman’s Bodyguard – $4.9 million
- Annabelle: Creation – $4 million
- Wind River – $3.2 million
- Leap! – $2.5 million
- Spider-Man: Homecoming – $2 million
- Dunkirk – $1.9 million
- Logan Lucky – $1.8 million
- The Emoji Movie – $1 million
Pic: Warner Bros