No doubt, if you have seen the advertisements, you will know that It has made its way to theaters last Friday. What was yet another film adapted from a Stephen King novel, I don't think anyone expected the numbers for it to be high. When I saw the Thursday numbers at 13 plus million, my impression was it would make 50 million and have a good weekend. Not only did it do well, but it easily outdid its competition.
For final weekend numbers, It made 123 million dollars at the box office. It is one of the biggest R-rated openings. This is also the biggest opening for any horror film, September release, and fall release, beating out recent films like Gravity and Hotel Transylvania 2. Keep in mind there was a 1990 version of the book, but that aired on ABC as a mini-series. It is also close and will beat out The Green Mile's domestic total, leaving the film as the top grossing film from any of King's novels.
In a sea of films adapted from the author's works, most of them have never been huge. Some, like the overplayed Shawshank Redemption, are still held in high regards. The Shining is still regarded as one of the best adaptations. Why did It do so well to begin its run in theaters? I put it down to people really wanting to see how this film stacks to its mini-series counterpart. Obviously, the tone looks a lot of different judging by the commercials. There is a little bit of cheese with the mini-series, especially with some of Tim Curry's lines as the clown. How close it stays true to the novel might be a factor for some people. The fact that there hasn't been adaptations of King's works the last few years since the 2013 Carrie remake helps a little bit. Really, the last ten years have seen not so many adaptations compared to what was seen throughout the 80s and 90s.
I think most people want to see a real horror film. When I mean real, I mean something that genuinely keeps you frightened for a good while. Not any of this light-hearted PG-13 crap. Studios think more about trying to get an audience than producing an authentic scare fest that can wow people. Obviously, it's not a surprise film like Paranormal Activity which got movie goers curious when it came out in 2009. However, It seems like the kind of film that could last until around November or December. Depending on the legs, it could even last beyond 2017, but that's a big pipe dream.
As always, there will be competition to best It. The next big horror film is Friend Request, coming out on the 22nd this month. However, it's going to face the next few weekends with American Assassin, mother!, and Kingsman 2 coming out in that time span. Even limited stuff like Battle of the Sexes are getting some promotion. For It, it still has time to keep chugging away and help September 2017 be a month to remember following a bad summer that hadn't been that putrid since 1993.
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