It

Plot

In October 1988, twelve-year-old Bill Denbrough makes a paper sailboat for his seven-year-old brother Georgie. Georgie sails the boat along rainy streets, only to have it fall down a storm drain. Attempting to retrieve it, Georgie sees a clown in the drain, who introduces himself as "Pennywise the Dancing Clown". Pennywise bites off Georgie's arm and drags him into the sewer.

The following summer, Bill and his friends Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak, and Stanley Uris run afoul of older bullies Henry Bowers, Belch Huggins, Patrick Hockstetter, and Victor Criss. Bill calculates that his brother's body may have washed up in the marshy wasteland "The Barrens". He investigates with his friends, believing Georgie may still be alive. Bill's classmate Ben Hanscom learns that unexplained tragedies and child disappearances have plagued the town for centuries. Fleeing Bowers' posse, Ben meets Bill's group in the Barrens. They find the sneaker of missing girl Betty Ripsom, and Patrick is killed by drowned children while searching the sewers.

Bill and Ben develop feelings for bullied girl Beverly Marsh. The group befriends orphan Mike Hanlon having rescued him from Bowers. Each member of the group has encountered terrifying manifestations of Pennywise: Ben is chased by a headless undead boy, Beverly is attacked by a sink spewing blood only children can see, Eddie is chased by a rotting leper, Stan witnesses a painting of a woman coming alive, Mike relives his parents burning alive, and a phantom of Georgie haunts Bill. Dubbing themselves "The Losers Club", they realize they are all being stalked by the same entity, which they call as "It". They determine that It appears as their individual worst fears, awakening from hibernation every 27 years to feed on the children of Derry, and that it travels via the sewer lines, which all lead to an old well under an abandoned house on Neibolt Street. Pennywise attacks them while they look through photos in Bill's garage. Beverly shows little fear of Pennywise. The group ventures to confront him, only to be separated and terrorized by their fears. As Pennywise gloats to Bill about Georgie, It charges at them, but Beverly stabs him in the head with a metal spike. Pennywise retreats after injuring Ben. The group flees with only Bill and Beverly fighting Pennywise.

Weeks later, after Beverly confronts and incapacitates her sexually abusive father, Pennywise abducts her. The Losers Club returns to the abandoned house to rescue her. Bowers, who has murdered his abusive father after being driven insane by Pennywise, attacks the group; Mike pushes Bowers down the well. The Losers descend into the sewers and find Pennywise's lair, which contains decayed circus props and children's belongings, around which the bodies of It's child victims float in mid-air. Beverly, catatonic after being exposed to Deadlights inside It's gaping mouth, is restored to consciousness when Ben kisses her. Bill encounters Georgie, but realizes he is Pennywise in disguise. Pennywise takes Bill hostage, offering to spare the others and go into hibernation if they leave him Bill. The Losers reject this, battling Pennywise while overcoming their various fears as the creature cycles through them. The Losers beat Pennywise before Beverly stabs him in the face with a broken pipe. It retreats, falling backwards down a well. Bill finds Georgie's bloodstained raincoat, and the group comfort him as he cries.

Cast

Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough:The leader of the group of kids known as the Losers Club, who vows to get revenge on the monster with the help of his friends. Bill losing his brother makes the battle against it a more personal crusade for him than any of the others. That and his stutter is what binds him to the group and transforms him into Big Bill, the leader. On the character of Bill, Muschietti stated: "Bill is like a ghost in his own home: nobody sees him because his parents can't get over Georgie's death." Ty Simpkins was considered for the role in Cary Joji Fukunaga's production. On the description of his character, Lieberher remarked of Bill that: "He's very strong and never backs down. He does what he thinks is right and would do anything for the people that he loves." Lieberher spoke of influences such as YouTube and Colin Firth's performance in The King's Speech (2010) in assisting him to develop Bill's stutter, while researching and getting used to stuttering on certain words, certain syllables, certain letters and sounds.

Bill Skarsgård as It / Pennywise The Dancing Clown:An ancient, trans-dimensional evil that awakens every twenty-seven years. Will Poulter was previously cast in the role but was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, with Poulter stating, "I was [attached] when Mr. Fukunaga was directing, but the circumstances at New Line are such that a new director's attached now." Poulter continued, "I think, with all due respect to him of course, I was selected by Cary and subscribed to Cary's vision for the movie, and so I haven't had a chance to connect with that [new] director." Mark Rylance, Ben Mendelsohn, Kirk Acevedo, Hugo Weaving, Jenny Slate, and Tilda Swinton were considered for the role, with Mendelsohn passing on the project, as New Line wanted him to take a sizable pay cut. On June 3, 2016, The Independent officially reported, after final negotiations took place, that Muschietti had chosen Skarsgård to portray the character. On portraying Pennywise, Skarsgård stated, "It's such an extreme character. Inhumane, It's beyond even a sociopath, because he's not even human. He's not even a clown. I'm playing just one of the beings It creates." Skarsgård described the character further, saying, "It truly enjoys the shape of the clown Pennywise, and enjoys the game and the hunt." He also commented, "What's funny to this evil entity might not be funny to everyone else. But he thinks it's funny." On Pennywise's design, Skarsgård stated, "It's important that we do something fresh and original for this one. It's purposely not going toward that weird, greasy look." He also commented on being compared to Tim Curry, stating that, "Curry's performance was truly great, but it's important for me to do something different because of that. I'll never be able to make a Tim Curry performance as good as Tim Curry." Skarsgård also elaborated on his age, stating, "There's a childishness to the character, because he's so closely linked to the kids. The clown is the manifestation of children's imaginations, so there's something child-like about that." Producer Dan Lin spoke of Skarsgård's physical attributes: "His build is really interesting. He's really tall and lanky, and feels a little clown like in his movement. When he came in — we had a lot of different actors read, and when he came in he had a different spin on the character that got us really excited." Lin concluded by comparing the character with that of Heath Ledger's Joker, "You've had [Ledger] doing almost a clown joker, you've seen obviously Tim Curry as a clown. We wanted someone who created a Pennywise character that would stand on its own and Bill came in and created this character that frankly freaked us out." Muschietti spoke of Skarsgård's Pennywise as one not to lurk in the shadows, to which he remarked, "Pennywise shows up, he's front and center, and he does his show. He has an act. So it's weird all the time, and every little thing implies a further threat." Muschietti also spoke of wanting to make the sense of dread that grows in Derry part of the dread of Pennywise, to which he stated, "He's not just a character that can shape-shift, his influence is all around. The anticipation of him is almost scarier than the actual Pennywise scares." On selecting Skarsgård to portray Pennywise, Muschietti wanted to stay true to the essence of the character, and Skarsgård caught his attention, "The character has a childish and sweet demeanor, but there's something very off about him. Skarsgård has that balance in him. He can be sweet and cute, but he can be pretty disturbing." Producer Barbara Muschietti referred to Skarsgård's Pennywise as "the ancestral clown", shunning 21st century modern clown characteristics and instead hearkening back to 18th century aesthetics with 'upgrades'."

Production

The project was in ongoing development since 2009. The proposed film adaptation has gone through two major phases of planning: initially with Cary Joji Fukunaga from 2009 to 2015, with the early contributions of screenwriter David Kajganich, and with Andy Muschietti, with Fukunaga remaining in some capacity due to prior screenplay contributions.

David Kajganich (2009–2010)

On March 12, 2009, Variety reported that Warner Bros. Pictures would be bringing Stephen King's novel to the big screen, with David Kajganich to adapt King's novel, while Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Doug Davison would be producing the piece. When Kajganich learned of Warner Bros. plans to adapt King's novel, he went after the job. Knowing that Warner Bros. was committed to adapting It as a single feature film, Kajganich began to attempt to try to find a structure that would accommodate such a large number of characters in two different time periods, around 120 pages, which was one of Warner Bros. stipulations. Kajganich worked with Lin, Lee, and Davison on The Invasion (2007), and he knew they would champion good storytelling, and allow him the time to work out a solid first draft of the screenplay. Kajganich spoke of the remake being set in the, "mid-1980s and in the present mirroring the twenty-odd-year gap King uses in the book and with a great deal of care and attention paid to the backstories of all the characters."

Kajganich also mentioned that Warner Bros wished for the adaptation to be rated R which he furthered by saying, "we can really honor the book and engage with the traumas that these characters endure.", while Kajganich spoke of Warner Bros. wanting the adaptation as a single film. On June 29, 2010, the screenplay was being re-written by Kajganich. He said that his dream choice for Pennywise would be Buster Keaton if he were still alive, and the Pennywise that Kajganich scripted was "less self-conscious of his own irony and surreality."

Cary Joji Fukunaga (2012–2015)

On June 7, 2012, The Hollywood Reporter had revealed that Cary Joji Fukunaga was boarding the project as director and will co-write the script with Chase Palmer, while Roy Lee and Dan Lin are producing, as with Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg of KatzSmith Productions. On May 21, 2014, Warner Bros. was announced to have moved the film to its New Line Cinema division, with overseer duties conducted by New Line's Walter Hamada and Dave Neustadter, along with Vice President of Production at Warner Bros., Niija Kuykendall. On December 5, 2014, in an interview with Vulture, Dan Lin announced that the first film will be a coming-of-age story about the children tormented by It and the second will skip ahead in time as those same characters band together to continue the fight as adults. Lin also stated that Fukunaga was only committed to directing the first film, though was currently closing a deal to co-write the second. Lin concluded by mentioning King, to which he remarked, "The most important thing is that [King] gave us his blessing. We didn't want to make this unless he felt it was the right way to go, and when we sent him the script, the response that Cary got back was, 'Go with God, please! This is the version the studio should make.' So that was really gratifying." Lin confirmed that Fukunaga would begin principal photography in Summer 2016.

On February 3, 2015, Fukunaga was interviewed by Slate wherein he spoke about It, while mentioning he has someone in mind for the role of Pennywise. On March 3, 2015, Fukunaga spoke of the film, particularly noting his goal to find the "perfect guy to play Pennywise". Fukunaga also revealed that he, Kajganich and Palmer had changed the names and dates in the script, adding, the spirit is similar to what he'd like to see in cinemas." On May 4, 2015, it was officially announced that Will Poulter had been cast to play Pennywise, after Fukunaga was "blown away" by his audition. Ty Simpkins was considered to play one of The Losers' Club members.

On May 25, 2015, it was reported that Fukunaga had dropped out as the director of It. According to TheWrap, Fukunaga clashed with the studio and didn't want to compromise his artistic vision in the wake of budget cuts by New Line, which greenlit the first film at $30 million. However, Fukunaga maintained that wasn't the case, with him stating he had bigger disagreements with New Line over the direction of the story: "I was trying to make an unconventional horror film. It didn't fit into the algorithm of what they knew they could spend and make money back on based on not offending their standard genre audience." He made mention that the budget was perfectly fine, as well as his desire to make Pennywise more than just the clown. Fukunaga concluded by stating, "We invested years and so much anecdotal storytelling in it. Chase and I both put our childhood in that story. So our biggest fear was they were going to take our script and bastardize it so I'm actually thankful that they are going to rewrite the script. I wouldn't want them stealing our childhood memories and using that. I was honoring King's spirit of it, but I needed to update it. King saw an earlier draft and liked it." On Fukunaga's departure, King wrote, "The remake of IT may be dead or undead but we'll always have Tim Curry. He's still floating down in the sewers of Derry."

Andy Muschietti (2015–2017)

On July 16, 2015, it was announced that Andy Muschietti was in negotiations to direct It, with New Line beginning a search for a new writer to tailor a script to Muschietti's vision, with the announcement also confirming the possible participation of Muschietti's sister, Barbara Muschietti, as a producer, and Richard Brener joining Hamada, Neustadter and Kuykendall to oversee the project. On April 22, 2016, it was indicated that Will Poulter, who was originally tapped to portray Pennywise in Fukunaga's version, had dropped out of the film due to a scheduling conflict and that executives were meeting with actors to portray the antagonist. On April 22, 2016, New Line Cinema set the film for a release of September 8, 2017.

On October 30, 2015, Muschietti was interviewed by Variety wherein he spoke about his vision of It, while mentioning Poulter was still in the mix for the role of Pennywise: "Poulter would be a great option. For me he is at the top of my list." He confirmed that next summer is the time for them to start shooting. It was decided to shoot It during the summer months to give them the time to work with the children who have the main roles in the first part of the film. Muschietti went on to say that "King described 50s' terror iconography," adding that he feels there is a whole world now to "rediscover, to update." He said there won't be any mummies or werewolves and that the "terrors are going to be a lot more surprising." On February 19, 2016, at the D.I.C.E. Summit 2016 producer Roy Lee confirmed that Fukunaga and Chase Palmer's original script had been rewritten, with Lee remarking, "It will hopefully be shooting later this year. We just got the California tax credit Dauberman wrote the most recent draft working with Muscetti, so it's being envisioned as two movies."

On May 5, 2016, in an interview with Collider, David Kajganich expressed uncertainty as to whether drafts of his original screenplay would be used by Dauberman and Muschietti, with the writer stating, "We know there's a new director, I don't know myself whether he's going back to any of the previous drafts or writing from scratch. I may not know until the film comes out. I don't know how it works! If you find out let me know."

On June 2, 2016, Jaeden Lieberher was confirmed to be portraying lead protagonist, Bill Denbrough. On June 2, 2016, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Bill Skarsgård was in final negotiations to star as Pennywise, whose cast will also include Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs and Jeremy Ray Taylor. On June 2, 2016, there was a call for 100 background performers, with the background actor call going from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and by 4 p.m. more than 300 people had gone through; the casting call also asked for a marching band and period cars between 1970 and 1989. On February 18, 2016, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Owen Teague was set to portray Patrick Hocksetter. On June 21, 2016, it was officially announced that Nicholas Hamilton had been cast to play Henry Bowers. On June 21, 2016, Bloody Disgusting reported that Javier Botet was added to the cast shortly before filming commenced. On June 22, 2016, Deadline Hollywood reported that Muschietti had chosen actress Sophia Lillis to portray Beverly Marsh. On June 24, 2016, Moviepilot reported that Stephen Bogaert was added to the cast shortly before filming commenced, with Bogaert portraying Al Marsh, the abusive father of Beverly Marsh.

Filming

Production designer Mara LePere-Schloop went to Bangor, Maine, to scope out locations including the Thomas Hill Standpipe, the land running alongside the Kenduskeag Stream that in It is called The Barrens, it was confirmed on March 31, 2015, and the Waterworks on the Penobscot River. LePere-Schloop said during her tour that they were hoping to shoot some scenes in the city and possibly get some aerial shots, although currently the leading locations for the majority of filming for the movie are in Yonkers, New York, and in Upstate New York. On May 31, 2016, Third Act Productions was confirmed to have applied to film interior and exterior scenes for It in the municipality of Port Hope, Ontario, with filming slated for various locations around the municipality from July 11, 2016, up until July 18, 2016. Principal photography was confirmed to have begun in Toronto, with an original shooting schedule occurring from June 27 to September 6, 2016.

On July 8, 2016, Port Hope had undergone a number of changes to transform it into Derry; Port Hope Municipal hall is now Derry Public Library, The Port Hope Tourism Centre is now a City of Derry office, Ganaraska Financial is now Montgomery Financial, Gould's Shoes store front on Walton Street changed to a butcher shop, The Avanti Hair Design store front changed to Tony's Barber Shop, an empty storefront at 36 Walton Street changed to Reliance Cleaners, Queen Street Tattoo store front changed to Derry Scoop, a statue of Paul Bunyan was erected in Memorial Park, US flags now hang in place of Canadian flags downtown, and Port Hope Capitol Theatre had appeared to be showing Batman (1989) and Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), thus confirming the film's setting of 1989.

On July 11, 2016, preliminary shooting took place in Port Hope Town Hall, Memorial Park cenotaph, Queen Street between Walton and Robertson streets and the Capitol Theatre. On July 12, 2016, filming occurred between the intersection of Mill and Walton street, Walton Street bridge, and in front and behind 16–22 Walton Street and Port Hope Town Hall. Other shooting locations included Queen Street between Walton and Roberston street, and Memorial Park, on July 13. It was also reported, on July 14, that filming had been set up on the alley between Gould's Shoe's and Avanti Hair Design, and John and Hayward streets. On July 15, 2016, Cavan Street between Highland Drive and Ravine Drive, and Victoria Street South between Trafalgar Street and Sullivan Street. Filming moved to Cavan Street between Highland Drive and Ravine Drive, and Victoria Street South between Trafalgar Street and Sullivan Street on July 15. Filming in Port Hope ended on July 18, at Watson's Guardian Drugs.

Cinematography

It was photographed with Arri Alexa XT Plus and Alexa Mini in a distributed aspect ratio of 2.39:1 by Chung Chung-hoon. For photographic lens, Chung used Panavision G Series Anamorphic Prime, Angenieux Optimo, and Primo Prime in which Chung stated is used "when Muschietti wants to use a wider lens or needs more frame space for visual effects. The look of the lenses is nearly the same. I mix them a lot and it works well." Cinematographer Chung and director Muschietti's discussions on the lighting of It were of temperature, with Muschietti wanting a hot summer with everyone sweating all the time, while admiring characters with shine on their faces. Both also discussed the balance of making something realistic, but with an element of intrigue that something is not right. Chung mulled over the notion of a period look for It, but ultimately felt the 1980s feel was conveyed through Claude Paré's sets and the work of Janie Bryant, in which Chung stated: "Trying to make a movie set in the 1980s look like the 1980s can be dangerous." Initially he had thought of photographing with 1980s lighting rules and gear, though later feeling it to be superfluous as Muschietti and he were trying to capture a natural look.

Muschietti himself found mainstream 1980s lighting too artificial thus preferred to through windows and bounce off the floor, allowing him to convey a feeling of intimacy with the characters, while admiring the approach of unsettling backlights and soft lights. Chung spoke of his experience on Stoker (2013), which taught him how to light quickly using one source: "I feel lucky because some directors will always say, Can you make more light? But this movie is very naturalistic. My responsibility is to the audience and to tell the story, and if you want this movie to scare people, a natural look is best."

Editing

Film editor Jason Ballantine spoke of the difference in pacing and rhythm that comes with horror in It, in which a story like this was broken up into individual encounters with Pennywise for each of the characters, thus requiring a particular approach. Each segment had to have the appropriate rhythm and setup for the inevitable jump scare, to which he explained: "We were definitely conscious of trying to mix the rhythms up. Each encounter became somewhat more elaborate for the jump-scare in terms of what was shot. The first assembly was massively long. So it did mean that screen time had to be dropped, either through the tightening of existing sequences or even scene deletions." Ballantine also spoke of the key factors when cutting It, which included King's novel, and Tommy Lee Wallace's 1990 miniseries.

In approaching a scene for It, Ballantine mapped out his day-to-day workflow from getting his dailies to sitting down with Muschietti looking through what he's pieced together. Upon receiving the dailies, Ballantine looked through the footage to see if he needs any pickups or reshoots to report back to set, resulting in Pearce Roemer, Elliott Traeger, Ferran Banchs and Daniel Miller to ensure all the footage had been copied over before returning the footage for formatting. From there, Ballantine asks his assistants to arrange the selects in script-order so that he can have a better understanding of the structure, as well as work at a faster pace without worrying about getting lost in the footage. Once Ballantine has a good chunk of the selects in the order he wants, the finished product from that batch will be about a third of the original length.

Design

On August 16, 2016, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, costume designer Janie Bryant spoke of crafting Pennywise's form-fitting suit and the inspirations to which it drew upon involving a number of bygone times among them the Medieval, Renaissance, Elizabethan, and Victorian eras. Bryant explained that the costume incorporates all these otherworldly past lives, while highlighting the point that Pennywise is a clown from a different time. In designing Pennywise's costume, Bryant included a Fortuny pleating, which gives the costume an almost a crepe-like effect, to which Bryant remarked, "It's a different technique than what the Elizabethans would do. It's more organic, it's more sheer. It has a whimsical, floppy quality to it. It's not a direct translation of a ruff or a whisk, which were two of the collars popular during the Elizabethan period."

Bryant played with multiple eras as a way of reflecting Pennywise's immortality and added a "doll-like quality to the costume." She furthered this by stating "The pants being short, the high waistline of the jacket, and the fit of the costume is a very important element. It gives the character a child-like quality." Bryant spoke of the two puffs off the shoulder, sleeves and again on the bloomers, with her desire to create an "organic, gourd or pumpkin kind of effect", which includes the peplum at the waist, the flared, skirt-like fabric blossoming from below his doublet. She explains, "It helps exaggerate certain parts of the body. The costume is very nipped in the waist and with the peplum and bloomers it has an expansive silhouette." The main color of his costume is a dusky gray, but with a few splashes of color. She concludes the interview by stating, "The pompoms are orange, and then with the trim around the cuffs and the ankles, it's basically a ball fringe that's a combination of orange, red, and cinnamon. It's almost like Pennywise fades into his environment. But there are accents to pull out the definition of the gray silk."

Bryant explained that she wished for Pennywise to have an organic element about himself, with herself paying attention to King's description of Pennywise as being in a silvery gray. For Pennywise, Bryant's manufacturer built 17 different clown costumes to accommodate the action in the film. Muschietti spoke of the fact that the entity of Pennywise has been around for thousands of years, thus from an esthetic standpoint wished to depart from the 20th century clown framework, in which he stated "I think it looks cheap, and it's too related to social events and stuff and circus and stuff. Circus is fine, but I'm more aesthetically attracted to the old time, like the 19th century clown. And given that this guy has been around for centuries, I wondered myself why, why not, having an upgrade that was 1800s?"

Visual effects

Nicholas Brooks was the overall visual effects supervisor and the visual effects company Rodeo FX worked on most of the visual effects on It, completing 95 shots for the film. Rodeo FX was tasked with creating a number of CG assets to either enhance or even completely replace Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise, amongst others being the giant abandoned cistern within the heart of Pennywise's lair. Both from a technical and creative standpoint, the various shapes created for Pennywise presented a large challenge for Rodeo FX's modeling, rigging and creature FX teams. The visual effects company Atomic Arts were initially brought in to create the paper boat sequence for It, which covers much of the first trailers, to which all of the shots were used in the final film and the company were awarded many more shots in Muschietti's piece. Atomic Arts highlighted the challenges in creating the paper boat sequence, as Muschietti and Chung shot it in bright sunshine. Amalgamated Dynamics worked on the special makeup effects on It.

Producer Barbara Muschietti stated that It would use computer-generated imagery as a support tool in every circumstance; never as an element standing on its own in regard to its relationship with practical effects, to which she stated, "In every film, in this day and age, there is some CG, but we will use it as little as possible." Andy Muschietti spoke of It containing a small amount of CGI, with much of Pennywise being Skarsgård and his face: "The rest it's a shape-shifting monster, and I wanted to bring that to the screen, when he's basically trying to throw everything he has at them.", while signifying the importance of design and execution in the eternal discussion of practical versus CG.

Company 3's Stephen Nakamura collaborated with Muschietti to color grade It, completing the film's digital intermediate in Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve at EFILM, spoke of the concepts about the look of Muschietti's film that evolved during production, and while continuing it in the DI, the idea that a lot of the film takes place in fairly high-key situations, not the kind of dark, shadowy world some horror films exist in. Nakamura said, "It's a period piece. It's set in a small town that sort of looks like this pleasant place to be, but all this wild stuff is happening!" On the work connected on Pennywise during the digital intermediate, Nakamura spoke of having alpha channel mattes cut around Pennywise's eyes for every shot he's in, while using the color corrector to make changes to his eyes:" Other moments Nakamura mentioned was the battle between the kids and Pennywise underground, wherein the setting shifts the story into darkness, with such an effect working powerfully in the 14-footlambert standard digital cinema version and even more so in the 31-footlambert HDR pass which was completed for the film's Dolby Cinema version, in contrast to Nakamura's work on Tomorrowland (2015), with him explaining: "In the Dolby Cinema version, the scene can feel significantly darker but also contain more detail. You're pushing more light through the images overall and the contrast ratio is massive so dark scenes can be even darker but we can hold onto every scary detail. It's a very effective tool to have for this kind of movie."

Themes

It is a loss of innocence story with fear, mortality and survivalist themes. Muschietti remarked of the film's elements of coming of age and issues of mortality, wherein he states such themes are prevalent in King's book, though that in reality these occur in a more progressive way, "There's a passage in It that reads, 'Being a kid is learning how to live and being an adult is learning how to die.' There's a bit of a metaphor of that and it just happens in a very brutal way, of course."

He also mentioned the characterization of Pennywise's survivalist attitude, and a passage in the novel which inspired Muschietti, was when Bill wonders if Pennywise is eating children simply because that's what we're told monsters do, in stating, "It's a tiny bit of information, but that sticks with you so much. Maybe it is real as long as children believe in it. And in a way, Pennywise's character is motivated by survival. In order to be alive in the imagination of children, he has to keep killing." While Muschietti acknowledges it to be a horror film, he, too, felt that it's not simply just that: "It's a story of love and friendship and a lot of other beautiful emotions."

Influences

Director Andy Muschietti said influences on It included the "visceral" authority of horror cinema: The Howling (1981), The Thing (1982), and Near Dark (1987). He also spoke of the influential contributions of Clive Barker and John Carpenter. He cited the influence of Steven Spielberg in "the way of understanding story and filmmaking, because he has such a strong emotional element to all his stories.", while crediting Stephen King, alongside directors such as [Carpenter] and Joe Dante. He also sought to emulate the whimsical and nostalgic perspective on childhood, while providing a balance with a much harsher viewpoint. He stated: "The movie, the tone of the movie regarding what childhood is and experiences of childhood is pretty wide. There's the Spielberg moments and there's the Larry Clark moments."

Muschietti spoke of bringing certain cultural experience within the genre to It, in which he highlights his devotion to horror coming from international horror films and literature, to which he stated, "there's other sides to my storytelling influences that comes from of course Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares and writers like Horacio Quiroga But you know, my love for horror comes from movies that were mainly English language." Muschietti based his portrayal of bullying in It as an homage to personal experience in the '80s with bullies, through the pure cruelty of Henry Bowers, where he speaks of them being very mean and very expressionist in their art of bullying, which is an aspect he wanted to explore. The sequence with Judith, the woman in the portrait whose form It assumes to terrify Stan, was based on Muschietti's experience with the paintings of Amedeo Modigliani, one of which hung in Muschietti's childhood home, and which he found frightening, interpreting Modigliani's stylisation as monstrous.

Skarsgård spoke of Heath Ledger as being an inspiration, while contrasting between Ledger's Joker and his Pennywise, in which he stated: "I think the biggest difference between Pennywise and the Joker character or at least Heath Ledger's interpretation is that he's far more based in reality." He also sought to not attempt to emulate the performance in The Dark Knight (2008), he remarked: "I deliberately tried to make mine different because it's such a clear, iconic performance so I wanted to stray away from it as far as possible." Skarsgård studied animal programs to assist him in developing Pennywise's physical behavior, in which he zeroed in on the energy of hyenas and the lower-lip scowl of bears as touchstones. While speaking of the inexplicable nature of Pennywise, Skarsgård stated: "Ledger's Joker is rooted in the real; you can break down the psychology. But Pennywise is not a real person." Skarsgård explained that Pennywise's succinct shuffles, whilst attacking and lunging toward his targets, were inspired by his little brother, Ossian, to which he stated: "I don't know if you've seen kids run like this, but they move their arms way too fast, and it looks really, really funny. And I just loved the way my brother ran as a kid. It was just out of sync. So I incorporated that into the character, and you get this really explosive effect. It's really unsettling when it happens."

Music

On March 23, 2017, Benjamin Wallfisch was announced as the composer of It's score. Wallfisch stated that Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Alan Silvestri, as well as Dave Grusin's composition for The Goonies (1985) were largely influential in the score of It, as he felt so passionate about those "big thematic style of scoring", albeit at the same time wishing to go beyond the idea that it would be a purely orchestral and adventurous score. According to Wallfisch, he had to develop a theme for Pennywise which included finding and creating music that could infect all the other melodies as there are several themes in the film but the Pennywise score is a very quiet and whispered childlike tune using very high strings. Wallfisch spoke of Pennywise's second theme, inspired by Skarsgård's portrayal, in which he used the old children's song "Oranges and Lemons", which had always disturbed him as a child: "We knew we wanted some kind of children's song to signify Pennywise's strange and demented inner monologue. I also very subtly use certain melodic fragments from it in other themes, for example the piano music that opens and closes the movie."

Release

It premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, on September 5, 2017, in Hollywood, California, after screening as a preview at BFI Southbank in London, England on September 4, 2017, while being selected to screen as the opening-film of the Fantasy Filmfest in Munich, Germany on September 6. It was released in 28 countries, including European nations (such as Russia and Netherlands), Middle Eastern nations (such as Israel and UAE), Latin America/Caribbean nations (such as Brazil and Panama), Australia, and New Zealand on September 7; 15 countries including the United Kingdom, and additional European, and Asian countries, including North America on September 8. On September 9, the film screened at the Deauville American Film Festival in Deauville, France, where it opened in the official sidebar section, The Premiers. It was selected to screen at Down Town Taito International Comedy Film Festival in Tokyo, Japan on September 17. The film was selected as the opening-film of the Slash Film Festival in Vienna, Austria on September 21, ahead of its final bow in Italy on October 19, and in Japan on November 3, 2017. On March 7, 2017, the title of the film was announced by Stephen King as Part 1 – The Losers' Club. On September 8, It opened in a total of 615 IMAX openings globally, of which 389 were in North America.

A few days before its release, Variety reported the film broke Fandango's pre-sales record to become the top horror pre-seller of all-time, eclipsing Paranormal Activity 3 (2011), as well as setting the record as the site's top pre-seller among September releases, beating Sully (2016). Variety also reported that MovieTickets.com stated that It accounted for 54.4% of all tickets sold through September 6, with It selling 8x as many tickets as Annabelle: Creation (2017) did through two days prior to opening, 6x The Conjuring 2's (2016) totals with two days to opening, and 15x that of The Purge: Election Year (2016) at the same point in the sales cycle. TheWrap reported the film broke Fandango's sales record to become the top horror second-week-seller of all-time, eclipsing Get Out (2017) by 2x as much.

Marketing

The official website for It debuted on August 31, 2016, introducing a marketing campaign and interactive layout to promote the film. The website streamed the third trailer as well as containing a gallery, videos, and the 8-bit game "It: Enter the Sewer". On January 31, 2016, Muschietti, on his Instagram, posted a sketch that is thought to be the precursor to Pennywise's final look, to celebrate the pre-production getting underway. Beginning from July 11, 2016, Muschietti posted a variety of missing person posters of children within the Derry area, including Betty Ripsom, Richie Tozier, Paul Greenberg, Jonathan Chan, and Tania McGowan.

The first official image for It debuted on July 13, 2016 to promote It, introducing the first look at Skarsgård's Pennywise The Dancing Clown, as well as an interview with Skarsgård, conducted by Anthony Breznican. Thomas Freeman of Maxim wrote that "Skarsgard in full, terrifying costume, he's clearly got what it takes to fill King's most macabre, nightmare-inducing creation." Chris Eggertsen of HitFix responded positively stating the image to be "an appropriately macabre look that doesn't deviate too radically from the aesthetic of Curry's Pennywise dare I say, a more creepily seductive look to Skarsgard's version that was absent from Curry's interpretation."

On August 16, 2016, Entertainment Weekly released the full costume image of Skarsgård's Pennywise to promote It, including an interview with costume designer Janie Bryant. JoBlo.com's Damion Damaske was fond of the new design, though was understanding others being dismissive of it. Damaske also stated, "One of the chief complaints is that it looked too automatically scary, and that one of the reasons Pennywise chooses his guise is to trick and lure children." Dave Trumbore of Collider noted that "This one's going to divide some folks. It's nowhere near as baggy or colorful as the one Tim Curry donned but the new version certainly seems to have a lot more thought and intent behind its creation." Jonathan Barkan of Bloody Disgusting called the image one of "drawing attention and curiosity". Barkan then stated "I don't know if it's morbid curiosity or hopeful wishes but the overall response to his face and makeup seemed to be quite positive!"

On March 9, 2017, Neha Aziz of SXSW announced that Muschietti is set to appear at a screening event titled, Face Your Fears, to share footage from It, while discussing his inspirations and influences. On March 11, 2017, New Line Cinema showcased its promotion of It, by releasing a teaser trailer and a scene at the South by Southwest festival. Trace Thurman of Bloody Disgusting heralded the trailer: "It was maybe 90 seconds of footage, but it was a damn impressive 90 seconds of footage. As far as teasers go, it's one of the best that I've ever seen." Dread Central's Jonathan Barkan praised the scene, and stated, "The kids are clearly very adept at working off one another. There was a chemistry between the four that was wonderful to see and it's obvious that Muschietti worked very hard to ensure they were believable." Eric Vespe of Ain't It Cool News remarked that "this one scene shows us the key traits of the bulk of the members of the Losers Club within one sequence. I loved it for that reason."

Reception

Box office

It grossed $327.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $375.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $702.8 million, against a production budget of $35–40 million. The $123.4 million earned worldwide in its opening weekend was the 29th-largest of all time in the United States and Canada. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $293.7 million, accounting for production budgets, P&A, talent participation and other costs, against box office grosses and ancillary revenues from home media, placing it fifth on their list of 2017's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".

With It playing in 4,103 theaters, it set the record for most venues for an R-rated film, surpassing Logan's (2017) 4,071 theaters, as well as the record for the largest opening for an R-rated horror movie, improving on Alien: Covenant's (2017) 3,761 theaters. The film made $13.5 million from Thursday night previews, setting the record for highest amount for an R-rated film, (besting Deadpool's (2016) $12.6 million), an R-rated horror film (besting Paranormal Activity 3's $8 million), a September release, as well as the biggest Thursday preview for any of King's adaptations. The film opened to $51 million on its first day, breaking previous records for the highest-opening R-rated, non-sequel horror film (besting The Conjuring's (2013) $41 million), and the highest-opening Stephen King movie (besting 1408's (2007) $20 million). The $51 million also gave It the biggest single-day opening for an R-rated movie of all time, dethroning Deadpool's $46 million, while nearly eclipsing Paranormal Activity 3's entire weekend gross of $52.6 million, which was the highest opening weekend gross for an R-rated horror film. Muschietti's It went on to open to $124 million, setting the records for largest opening weekend for both a September and a fall release (besting Hotel Transylvania 2's (2015) $48.4 million) and (besting Gravity's (2013) $55 million), while eclipsing the biggest adjusted September opening (besting Rush Hour's (1998) $62 million) and the biggest adjusted October opening (besting Scary Movie 3's (2003) $71 million).

Other records set by the film include the largest opening weekend for an R-rated horror film (besting Paranormal Activity 3's (2011) $52.6 million), the biggest theatrical debut in horror movie history (besting Hannibal's (2001) $58 million), the biggest non-holiday/long weekend R-rated debut of all time (besting Logan's $88 million), the cheapest movie ever to top $100 million in its debut weekend (besting The Twilight Saga: New Moon's (2009) $50m budget), becoming the second-biggest debut for an R-rated film behind Deadpool's ($132.4 million), the biggest opening for an R-rated movie based upon a book (besting Fifty Shades of Grey's (2015) $85 million), and the third-highest opening of 2017 (behind Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), while joining The Passion of the Christ (2004) as the only film under $40 million to enter the biggest openers list. Variety noted that the film's opening weekend could have been even greater if not for Hurricane Irma shutting down nearly 50% of Florida's theaters, a state that typically accounts for 5% of the country's box office grosses. The film broke the record for the highest Monday that the month of September has ever seen with $8.8 million (besting The Sixth Sense's (1999) $6.37 million), the biggest Monday ever for an R-rated horror and/or scary movie, while breaking the record for the highest Tuesday that the month of September has ever seen with $11.4 million (besting Sully's $4.8 million), the highest Tuesday for a horror film (besting The Conjuring's $5.6 million), and the second-biggest single Tuesday for an R-rated horror film (behind The Omen's (2006) $12.6 million). The film went on to bring in $7.9 million to attain the biggest Wednesday in September history and the biggest Wednesday for an R-rated horror movie, while becoming the record holder for any horror film on a Thursday in September with $7.2 million.

Critical response

It received praise for its performances, direction, screenplay, cinematography, and musical score. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 85% based on 387 reviews, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Well-acted and fiendishly frightening with an emotionally affecting story at its core, It amplifies the horror in Stephen King's classic story without losing touch with its heart." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 69 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 85% and a 64% "definite recommend".

Vanity Fair, Salon, and IndieWire, among others, pegged it as an Oscar contender. Sinead Brennan of RTÉ, awarding four out of five stars, described It as a "film that is just beautiful to look at, while you sit on the edge of your seat waiting for the next scare." She praised the performances, cinematography, and production value, whilst speaking of Skarsgård as "chilling perfection", whose "manic energy and presence which brings a level of unease and intensity to proceedings that is just incredible.", with Brennan feeling Skarsgård's performance was "career defining", and deserving to be considered for awards season.

Ben Child of The Guardian described Skarsgård as a "revelation", while stating: "There may be something of Heath Ledger's Joker, and a Depression-era New Yoik gangsterism to Skarsgård's vowels, but his ability to go from quiet, leering menace to nightmarish attack mode in a split second is a big part of the appeal." Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun-Times spoke most highly of Skarsgård's performance, with him writing "Skarsgård's Pennywise shows up only sparingly, and that's a wise choice. To be sure, it's a strong performance, and the clown is a worthy successor to all the great scary clowns in movie history" Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote: "That evil clown Pennywise, a spectacularly scary Bill Skarsgård, is the stuff of nightmares." San Francisco Chronicle's Peter Hartlaub granted the film a maximum score of four stars, stating that "Muschietti understands the Spielberg-ian rule, that creating a recognizable and convincing backdrop makes the supernatural thing in the foreground feel tangible and believable", while praising Skarsgård and the young cast's performances. Ryan Porter of The Toronto Star felt Wolfhard to be "charming in what could have been just another nerd role, proving his breakout performance on Stranger Things was more than beginner's luck." In his review for The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Calvin Wilson wrote, "Muschietti conjures an atmosphere of dread that allows for the occasional burst of humor." He continued by praising the performances of Muschietti's young cast, citing Lillis whose "spunky charisma brings to mind Scarlett Johansson and Emma Stone".

Sequel and prequel

Producer Roy Lee mentioned a second planned film in an interview with Collider on February 16, 2016, before principal photography had begun on the first film, saying, "Dauberman wrote the most recent draft working with Muschietti, so it's being envisioned as two movies." On July 19, 2017, Muschietti revealed that the plan is to get production underway for the sequel to It during the following spring, adding, "We'll probably have a script for the second part in January 2018. Ideally, we would start prep in March. Part one is only about the kids. Part two is about these characters 30 years later as adults, with flashbacks to 1989 when they were kids." On July 21, 2017, Muschietti spoke of looking forward to having a dialogue in the second film that does not exist within the first, stating, it seems like we're going to do it. It's the second half, it's not a sequel. It's the second half and it's very connected to the first one." Muschietti confirmed that two cut scenes from the film will hopefully be included in the second, one of which being the fire at the Black Spot from the book.

On September 25, 2017, New Line Cinema announced that the sequel would be released on September 6, 2019, with Gary Dauberman writing the script. Later in December 2017, Agent Cody Banks writer Jeffrey Jurgensen was also listed as a screenwriter. As of February 2018, Jessica Chastain was in negotiations to star as the adult Beverly Marsh. In April 2018, James McAvoy and Bill Hader entered negotiations to play the adult Bill Denbrough and Richie Tozier. In May 2018, James Ransone revealed on Twitter that he would play the adult Eddie Kaspbrak. Shortly afterwards, Andy Bean and Jay Ryan had joined the cast to play the adult Stanley Uris and Ben Hanscom respectively. In June 2018, Isaiah Mustafa signed on to play the adult Mike Hanlon. Filming had officially begun on June 19, 2018, and concluded in November 2018. Shooting took a total of 86 days. The film was released on September 6, 2019, and was a box office success although it garnered a mixed critical reception.

A prequel series titled It: Welcome to Derry premiered on October 26, 2025 on HBO, with subsequent episodes airing weekly. It was previously slated to stream on HBO Max.