'It' is a hit! The Stephen King horror flick shattered box office records
Horror movies don't usually land at the box office like this.
It, the New Line/Warner Bros. adaptation of Stephen King's classic novel, is expected to end its opening weekend with $117.2 million at the box office. That's a staggeringly huge figure for any movie to open with, and a basically impossible one -- until now, apparently -- for an R-rated horror movie.
For context: Prior to It, the top opening weekend for an R-rated horror movie belonged to Paranormal Activity 3, which earned $52.6 million in 2011. The rest of that Top 10 list after Paranormal is populated by movies that opened at $41 million or less.
In other words: This is an unprecedented situation. R-rated horror movies just don't do this type of business. Hell, horror movies don't do this type of business, regardless of rating.
It did, however, and it broke multiple records in the process.
In addition to topping the opening weekend charts for R-rated horror, It also has the largest horror opening for any MPAA rating, the largest September debut, and the largest Fall season debut. If the estimate holds, it will also end the weekend as the third-largest debut of the year, just ahead of Spider-Man: Homecoming's $117 million.
On top of all that: However the final weekend tally falls -- the current number is only an estimate -- it's already clear that It earned more in its opening weekend than the other nine movies listed in the weekend's Top 10 combined. You could triple the total weekend take for those nine movies and still not quite scratch the It estimate.
The question, then, is why did this happen?
King's work is certainly popular, and It has enjoyed a buzzy ride since its debut trailer first dropped in March. Many people who are old enough to see an R-rated movie now remember the beloved-yet-flawed TV adaptation of It from the '90s, so there's nostalgia in play here as well.
But there's more to it than that.
We're just capping off one of the worst summer seasons in Hollywood history, with the lowest overall box office during that period in roughly two decades. In other words: movie buffs are bored AF. They've been aching for something new, and good, to see.
It seems to have delivered.
Topics Film Stephen King
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
