Stephen King Movie Adaptation of ‘It’ Poised to Have Scary-Good Opening Weekend

The film's trailer had been watched nearly 200 million times.

August 20, 2017 5:00 am

If you were around when Stephen King’s It made its staggeringly bad made-for-television debut in 1990—watching as “John-Boy” Walton (Richard Thomas) fought off a decently frightening Pennywise the clown (Tim Curry)—it’s been a long road to redemption.

All that ends on Sept. 8, when the film finally gets its silver-screen debut, one that early tracking points to a watershed (née bloodshed?) moment at the box office.

As Variety reports, initial predictions are setting the opening numbers at $50 million or more for an R-rated film that tells the tale of a killer clown that inhabits a Maine sewer system and terrorizes little kids. (Within 24 hours of posting, the film’s trailer had been watched nearly 200 million times.)

After lackluster box office numbers for this summer’s blockbusters, a strong opening for It would also spell good news for the greater film industry.

But sources within the studio releasing the movie warned Variety that such dramatic predictions could prove to be inflated. For one, an R-rating will keep a massive portion of the audience out of the theaters, initially. (That is, until they sneak in.)

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