It counts pennies all way to box office
IT is a hit.
The Stephen King adaptation from New Line and Warner Bros shattered records at the weekend earning $117.2 million from 4103 locations, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
Not only is It now the largest opening for a horror movie and the largest September opening, the film more than doubled the earnings of the previous record holders.
Before this weekend Paranormal Activity 3 had the big- gest horror opening with $52.6 million from 2011, and the highest September debut was Hotel Transylvania 2 with $48.5 million in 2015.
“We blew past everyone’s most optimistic projections and I think there might be room for us to grow,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros president of domestic distribution.
The movie’s success is astounding, especially considering the project from director Andy Muschietti cost only $35 million to produce.
This is one of the times when critics and audiences were on the same page, too. The film has a fresh 86 per cent Rotten Tomatoes score.
Starring Bill Skarsgard as the homicidal clown Pennywise and a group of fresh faces as the seven kids of the Losers Club, It is the first part of a planned two-part series.
“It starts with a brilliant story from Stephen King,” Mr Goldstein said. “The director made a fabulously compelling movie and the date was special.”