It is incredibly popular right now. Andy Muschietti’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 1986 novel has been a wrecking ball at the box office and has reached bonafide cultural phenomenon status at the moment. If you held a “name the team” contest in your town, the ______ Pennywises are winning that ballot 10 times out of ten. What comes next for a scary movie that’s done everything expected of it and more for its studio? Toppling The Exorcist, it seems.
According to Deadline, It is on track to pass William Friedkin’s The Exorcist as the highest-grossing horror film of all-time. The gross for It is expected to surpass the $232.9 million lifetime domestic mark on September 21. Not bad at all for a motion picture getting no lead-in help from the summer box office and made for $35 million. The Dark Tower sure as sugar didn’t come close to threatening any records when it came out.
There’s one giant asterisk to add to Pennywise’s horror king crown, mind you. The highest-grossing horror title has been bestowed upon the movie by Warner Bros. who have determined that The Sixth Sense and Jaws are too broad to qualify as strict horror. At this stage, it’s not unthinkable for It to keep growing as a box office monster and challenge even those classics in terms of money making power.
If you’re looking to send Andy Muschietti, Stephen King and the studio a celebratory cake, may we suggest this Pennywise inspired offering?
(Via Deadline)
