Anticipation for director Andres Muschietti's IT has been boiling for weeks now, but in the past three days audiences showed Hollywood just how hungry they were for this new Stephen King adaptation. After making a stunning $51 million on Friday alone, the new blockbuster has shattered multiple records, and has immediately become one of the most successful fall releases of all time. Check out the top 10 below!
It was rather amazing to watch the estimates for IT's opening weekend climb over the last few weeks. First it was between $50-60 million. Then it was $85 million. Then came $95 million. Hell, as of mid-Saturday the professional prognosticators were still saying that the horror feature would probably make around $103 million. Now, however, the final figures are in, and they are stunning. The $117 million take is a stunning achievement by itself, but even more amazing when you consider it has an R-rated horror title between released during the fall season.
In the eyes of box office analysts these are all elements that usually ding opening weekend numbers, but IT obviously shattered both expectations and records. It's the most successful horror opening of all time, and the most successful fall opening of all time - and it would be the most successful R-rated opening of all time had Deadpool not set the bar so high in February 2016 making $132 million during its first three days.
The immense success of IT is not only wonderful because Andres Muschietti has made a legitimately great film, but also because the box office news that we've been getting in the last few weeks has been truly dreadful. August was an extremely hard movie month to get through, and you can see it all on display in the rest of the Top 10 that unfolded above (the rest of the weekend's totals in the Top 10 are equal to only about a quarter of IT's take). The Hitman's Bodyguard, which got rough reviews when it was released in mid-August, finally got dethroned from the number one spot after three weeks, and it has still only managed to make $64 million thus far. Spider-Man: Homecoming - which was released in early July - is somehow still holding on to the seventh spot. It's a great thing for the industry to see so many people excited by a new release, and it gives us renewed hope for how the rest of 2017 will play out.
As you can see, the only other new release this week was the Reese Witherspoon-starring romantic drama Home Again, which got absolutely crushed. You get the sense that the film came out hoping that it would attract movie fans who aren't big into the horror scene, but it seems that it didn't take into account that the competition would be a true-blue all-around crowd pleaser. It should be noted that the $9 million take isn't devastating, as it's hard to imagine the feature carrying a huge price tag, but it's performance certainly does look incredibly underwhelming compared to IT's final tally.
Given the strong buzz that IT has, and then fact that it should continue to be watercooler conversation for the next week, there's a strong chance that the new Stephen King movie will put up impressive second week numbers as well. That being said, it does face some interesting competition in the form of Darren Aronofsky's mother! (another critically-acclaimed horror feature), and the Michael Cuesta-directed action thriller American Assassin. We'll be back next week to analyze the aftermath, so we'll catch you then!
