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 The New Line and Warner Bros. adaptation of
Stephen King's novel is officially shattering box office records
during its opening weekend. The R-rated horror film should make
a whopping $117.2 million from 4,103 locations, far surpassing
earlier expectations. That would give "It" the third largest
opening weekend of 2017, about even with "Spider-Man:
Homecoming," which made $117 million. Only "Beauty and the
Beast" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" earned more this
year. $7.2 million of "It's" domestic grosses are coming from
377 Imax screens.
"There's something really special about the story itself, the
way the movie was made, and the marketing," said Jeff Goldstein,
distribution chief at Warner Bros. "The stars aligned on this,
and we still have some room to grow for the weekend."
"It" earned a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 87% and a B+
CinemaScore. Its gender breakdown is reportedly 51% female and
49% male. About two thirds of the audience has been over 25
years old.
"It's" opening is mostly unprecedented, crushing the record for
largest September opening set by "Hotel Transylvania 2" in 2015
with $48.5 million, and the biggest opening weekend banked by a
horror or supernatural film -- "Paranormal Activity 3" earned
$52.6 million in 2011. When it comes to R-rated movie openings,
"It" falls only to "Deadpool," which changed the game in 2016
with a massive $132.4 million opening. This, during a weekend
when Hurricane Irma threatens huge portions of Florida and
Georgia, which could dent attendance by as much as 5%.
In addition to its domestic grosses, the horror hit is expected
to pull in $62 million from 46 markets overseas, giving "It" a
$179 million global debut. That's a huge win for a movie with an
estimated $35 million production budget.
Horror films often have lower budgets than other more CGI-dense
blockbusters, so the return on investment has potential to be
massive. Goldstein said the genre is one that New Line
particularly excels in, and there is potential to see more
horror in the future if the right story comes along. "If we were
able to find more films in this genre, we'd be thrilled to make
them," he said.
The movie comes courtesy of Argentine director Andy Muschietti,
who is known for the 2013 horror film "Mama." Bill Skarsgard
stars as Pennywise the Clown, which terrorizes young children in
Derry, Maine. The rest of the cast includes youngsters Jeremy
Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen
Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Nicholas Hamilton, and Jackson Robert
Scott in supporting roles.
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That leaves Open Road's "Home Again" trailing far behind. The Reese
Witherspoon-led romantic comedy should earn $9 million this weekend
from 2,940 locations. The $15 million project was directed by Hallie
Meyer-Shyer, the daughter of Nancy Meyers, who also worked on the
film as a producer. The story centers on Witherspoon's character --
a mother of two who unexpectedly has three young men come to live
with her following a recent separation from her husband.
Lionsgate's "Hitman's Bodyguard" is landing in third with $4.9
million from 3,322 locations after winning the domestic box office
for the past three weekends. "Annabelle: Creation" from Warner Bros.
is next with $4 million from 3,003 spots. And "Wind River" caps the
top five with an anticipated $3.2 million from 2,890 theaters.
For the movie business, "It" couldn't have come at a better time.
Following a dismal summer box office that plunged 14.6% from last
summer to $3.8 billion, "It" serves in part as the pick-me-up the
industry was desperately craving. After this weekend, the year to
date box office will improve from 6.5% behind 2016 to 5.5%,
according to data provided by ComScore.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore attributed the
film's success to the "universality of the fear of clowns" which
created an "event for fans who came out to be scared en masse in the
communal environment of the movie theater."
He added, "The marketing campaign brilliantly evoked a sense of
teenage wonderment, fear, and ultimately bravery in the face of the
true evil as perfectly embodied by Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise.
That, along with the great ensemble cast of young actors and a movie
that delivered on the promise of that marketing, made the film an
astonishing over-performer."
A sequel is already in the works at New Line with Gary Dauberman
attached to write the script, and Muschietti expected to return to
the director's chair.
Regarding plans for the next movie, Goldstein said, "It puts more
pressure on us to come up with the best version of the story so we
bring fans what they want to see. We've had a lot of history with
franchises. Some are great, and some we wish we had a little bit
more story. Fortunately, there's a lot here in this story."
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