The folks over at New Line have a lot to celebrate. The midbudget horror film IT, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, is looking to make it big this weekend.
According to Deadline, Andy Muschietti’s adaptation brought in a record-breaking $13.5 million on Thursday. This beats out the already-astounding $12.7 million that Deadpool brought in Thursday nights back in February of 2016. That movie went on to make $132.4 million in its opening three-day weekend.
Current tracking has IT projected to exceed $90 million, and some trackers even have it breaking $100 million, which is virtually unheard of in the genre. Yes, horror movies have a track record of being successful, but it’s usually due to their low cost and slow burn in theaters, and not so much due to it hitting it big on opening weekend.
RELATED: IT Review: A Funny, Heartwarming, Disturbing, Yet Rewarding Adaptation Of Stephen King’s Iconic Novel
This is both a huge surprise and not. Yes, it was expected to do well, but perhaps not THIS well. For starters, the film is based on one of the King’s most acclaimed novels. It’s always had a high place in a lot of his fans’ hearts. It was a horror book, yes, but it was about so much more than that, and that’s what’s allowed it to stand the test of time. So no matter what, there was a built-in audience for it.
There was also evidence of hits impact when the trailer hit YouTube. When it did hit last March, it generated 197 million views in 24 hours, which broke the record set by The Fate of the Furious — no small feat. And it seems like those numbers were no fluke. According to PostTrak, most of the film’s audiences came thanks to the strength of its trailers on YouTube.
Furthermore, this is all bolstered by the fact that the movie is great! Critics are generally agreeing that this is a big winner of a Stephen King adaptation (in stark contrast to The Dark Tower), and it’s currently sitting at a 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. That may very well result in the film performing on the high end of expectations, because as we’ve learned, that fresh logo does a lot to bring in audiences.
Given the terrible time the box office has been having for the past month-plus, this is a much needed shot of adrenaline for the industry, and proof of the hunger for high quality horror flicks.
Will you be seeing IT this weekend? Let us know down below!
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SOURCE: Deadline