If there's one thing horror fans can be thankful for this year, it is the frighteningly successful cinematic adaptation of the Stephen King novel IT. The Andy Muschietti-directed film has added more to the horror genre and had Hollywood eagerly looking for another King property to adapt to match IT's success. Bill Skarsgård managed to carve out his own claim to the Pennywise character apart from Tim Curry's portrayal. Now the otherworldly clown is everywhere and firmly entrenched in modern pop culture. In fact, Pennywise made another appearance today to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Take a look.
This post from the IT Twitter account comes in advance of the film's digital and home video release. Because there is obviously nothing more comforting on Thanksgiving, a day reserved for family and merrymaking, than thinking about a sewer-dwelling child murderer. Naturally Pennywise would appear in the reflection of a primed for violence carving knife. The "You'll bloat, too" is a clever play on the murderous clown's signature line. Apparently Pennywise has learned from the witch in the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale and decided to try fattening up his prey prior to feeding. This is another testament to how Bill Skarsgård has inhabited the character and is now the Pennywise for a new generation. It's good to see that New Line is still having fun with the character and doing some smart viral marketing to pump up those digital and Blu-ray sales. It would be great to see this marketing continue for future holidays with a Deadpool-type approach.
IT found great success and exploded at the September box office, riding a wave of stellar reviews and positive word of mouth. The film is currently in the top five films of the year domestically and has raked in $688 million worldwide. This has lead to a lot of excitement and casting speculation about the sequel, as Pennywise will be haunting our the big screen again in a few years. The remaining parts of the book only get weirder, so it will be interesting to see what IT: Chapter 2 will bring when it arrives in 2019. The sequel will have some interesting challenges with what approach it takes to the story. We only know a little bit so far, but you can count on returning to the town of Derry sooner rather than later.
For all the latest in threatening holiday greetings from your favorite horror characters and the future of IT: Chapter 2 (which hits theaters on September 6, 2019), keep an eye on CinemaBlend, and for all the movies left in the year, check out our release schedule.
