by Maddie Levans
Beep beep, Richie! Stephen King fans nationwide rejoiced at the premier of IT: the newest film adaptation of his classic 1986 novel. The movie, announced in 2016, was projected to be a hit among long-time King fans. In IT’s opening weekend, the film grossed over $120 million in ticket sales, making it the largest grossing opening weekend for an R-Rated movie in film history. This is the second film adaptation of the book, the first one having been released in 1990 as a TV mini series, starring Tim Curry as Pennywise. Warning: spoilers ahead.
For starters, the new movie is set in the 1980s- which came to me as a surprise. The original movie and novel has the Loser’s club, a ragtag group of pre-teen outcasts, fight IT, otherwise known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, in the 1950s, later coming back as adults in the 80s to fight IT one last time. The change in time period was a little strange at first; however, knowing that the second part of the movie is supposed to take place in the present day, this decision makes sense in the long run. Plus, the release date for the second movie takes place exactly 27 years after the release of the 1990 miniseries, paying tribute to the 27 year gap between the initial and final fights against IT in the novel.
Compared to Tim Curry’s Pennywise, Bill Skarsgård’s portrayal of the killer clown has received copious amounts of praise for being true to the original character in the book. Curry’s portrayal of Pennywise struck fear into the hearts of many with his baggy yellow, green, and purple clown suit, orange pom pom buttons, and stark red hair, which helped to make his performance even more memorable. Many long-time fans of the book were delighted to see Pennywise portrayed as he was in the novel, fangs and all. Both clowns are defeated at the end of the first movies; however, Skarsgård’s Pennywise seems to cower in fear at the sight of the children at the end of the fight, whereas Curry’s reassures the children that their fight is over.
Based on its overwhelming success thus far, IT is shaping up to be the most successful movie of the year, so stop clowning around and buy yourself a ticket before you float too!