Director Andres Muschietti has been posting sporadic behind-the-scenes images from his forthcoming two-part It re-adaptation to Instagram since beginning production on the film, but many of these glimpses are so cryptic it's difficult for those who aren't steeped in the lore of Stephen King's famed 1986 novel to decipher them. Thankfully, I've done all the research for you! Below, you can check out my slightly-spoilery guide to the filmmaker's social-media teases. (And in case you haven't seen, EW revealed the first full look at Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise yesterday.)
Balloons
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Pennywise often holds balloons to lure young children or to torment his adult victims, as seen in this clip from the 1990 miniseries:
They All Float
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The image of a floating doll's head feels pretty self-explanatory, but in case you needed further clarification: Pennywise is particularly fond of killing children. “Everything down here floats,” the clown-demon tells his first onscreen victim six-year-old Georgie Denbrough before ripping off his arm at the beginning of the story. Otherwise, water is a consistent theme in It; in the town of Derry, a flood-prone stream running through the center of town figures prominently in the town's history and the book's narrative.
Betty Ripsom
One of Pennywise's early victims, 13-year-old Ripsom was killed in December of 1957 (obviously a different time of year in Muschietti's version) but was taunted by the evil entity weeks before her death through the drain in her bathroom sink.
Witcham and Jackson
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Witcham and Jackson are the Derry streets down which George Denbrough sails his paper boat in the rain — and meets his untimely end — at the beginning of the story.
George and Bill
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As pointed out by an Instagram user, this storyboard appears to depict a scene that takes place shortly before George's murder, as his older brother “Stuttering” Bill Denbrough makes him the paper boat to sail in the gutters.
Silver
Silver is the childhood bike used by Bill Denbrough to save two characters: 1) his friend Eddie Kaspbrak (from an asthma attack) in the '50s portion of the story and 2) his wife Audra, who he revives from a catatonic state during a brisk ride near the novel's conclusion.
“Thrusts his fists against the post”
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This storyboard, which appears to show Bill Denbrough astride Silver, features a snippet of a line that is featured repeatedly in the novel: “He thrusts his fists against the post and still insists he sees the ghost.” Copped by King from the 1942 novel Donovan's Brain by Curt Siodmak, Bill uses the line to overcome his stutter and also invokes it during his final battle with It.
Richie Tozier
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Richie Tozier (played here by Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard) is a member of the Losers' Club who uses humor as a weapon and later parlays his wit into a career as a successful disc jockey (in the miniseries he was a talk show host). While the Missing poster here implies that he was one of It's victims, he lives to the end of both the novel and the 1990 miniseries, implying Muschietti's film may potentially be changing things up.
Sunflowers
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Sunflowers are a prominent feature of the house at 29 Neibolt Street in Derry, where the Losers' Club have several encounters with It. This is the house where the entity disappears down a toilet pipe, leading the Losers to seek it out in the town's sewers.