Spoilers Stephen King's IT movie - Grading and Discussion

[Dream]

The time has finally come for Pennywise to return! I've always loved both the novel and the miniseries, and have been hyped for the movie for months now. The reviews from critics have been great, and this is looking like it will become the biggest movie based on a SK novel.
IT Trailer

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Original IT Announcement Topic

 

[Nightowl1701]

My one word review: MASTERPIECE.

Or, in the words of another legendary horror remake - "Be afraid. Be VERY afraid."

 

[marillion]

I loved the mini series when it came out, or at least the first part with the kids. I have been leery of this because I don't like the clown design as opposed to the source material/Tim Curry version... but there is so much good buzz about this i guess i will have to dive in this weekend, so to speak...

We all float, right??

 

[Tosk]

I loved the mini series when it came out, or at least the first part with the kids.

Yeah, night 1 is still great...but night 2 was always a bit of a let down.

For the new film, I wonder if they filmed the flashbacks for Movie 2 with the kids already or if they'll do them later?

 

[marillion]

I would imagine for consistency's sake (age, growth, hair cuts, locations, etc) as well as convenience for filming, they filmed most of the flashbacks already. That being said, any changes in the script for part two may necessitate re-shoots.

 

[Jax]

B though it could easily go to a B+ on a rewatch, me n my friends enjoyed ourselves with this one.

It's totally different in tone from the TV Movie as you would expect with a more mature rating (R Rated right?) and Pennywise is a less quotable & less campy villain with a lot less dialogue than I expected but it really does work. Pennywise is creepy from the start and seems to be more insane than Tim Curry's version, almost like he's talking to himself as much as the children when he does speak. The Child actors are brilliant with the ones playing Beverley & Richie really standing out at times.

I look forward to Chapter 2.

 

[Tom]

Awesome film loved it!

 

[Jax]

IT devours the Box Office...

$117 million opening weekend and the oversea's Box Office stands at $62 million though it should be updated by Monday to a bigger total. At the moment IT stands at $179 million worldwide gross against it's tiny $35 million budget.

From Box Office Mojo...

The film has claimed the largest September opening, largest Fall opening, the largest opening for an R-rated horror film, not to mention the largest opening weekend for a horror film of any MPAA rating, and tops 2nd place Home Again in second place by nearly $110 million. Overall, the film accounted for more than 75% of the combined gross for the weekend's top twelve

The film dusted the previous opening weekend record for an R-rated horror film, more than doubling Paranormal Activity 3's previous record of $52.5 million. In fact, It is already the fifth highest grossing R-rated horror film all-time after just three days in release.

The film's debut was the widest opening ever for an R-rated film and as such delivered the second largest opening for an R-rated movie behind Deadpool's $132.4 million opening last February. Additionally, the previous opening weekend record for September was held by Hotel Transylvania 2 with $48.5 million and the previous Fall opening weekend record was Gravity's $55.7 million, neither of which stood a chance against It and combined don't even come within $10 million.

It should also be mentioned that rival estimates puts the film's opening over $120 million and some closer to $125 million. One obvious reason for the disparity has to do with Hurricane Irma hitting Florida this weekend where ~175 theaters are closed. The state typically represents 5.5-6.5% of the domestic gross each weekend.

The overseas numbers include the largest opening weekend for a horror film in the U.K. ($12.3m), Russia ($6.7m), Australia ($5.9m), Brazil ($5.6m), Netherlands ($1.4m) and Poland ($1.15m). Upcoming releases include openings in The next key markets to open include Sweden and Mexico next week followed by France (Sep 20), Argentina (Sep 21), Germany (Sep 28) and Italy (Oct 19).

 

[Shanndee]

I really liked this adaptation! The kids were great (I really loved Bev and Ben...and Richie slowly grew on me) and I have to give Bill Skarsgard a lot of credit, he made Pennywise his own. I was really skeptical that he would be able to pull it off (Tim Curry's Pennywise was the source of my nightmares for YEARS).

Tim Curry is still the King, but I give Skarsgard credit for his performance.

I really liked it overall, and I really didn't think I would be able to say that.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

The film dragged a little for me, especially during the second act. The third act, between the climax and the ending, felt rushed to me. There were things that were not addressed.

When Pennywise attacked and devoured his victims his eyes turning inward into his skull, showing only the whites, reminded me of sharks, like the Great White, whose eyes turn white as well just before attacking. It's a little odd, to me, that Pennywise looked like a early 20th century clown in the early American colonial period.

Not everyone at my showing was impressed with the film. One person described in a voice heard by everyone in the audiotoroium that the film was shitty. People rushed out of there and i was only one who stayed to the end, where I heard the laughter of Pennywise.

 

[Dream]

Wow, this new movie changed so much or didn't have a ton of stuff that was in the novel. It was entertaining enough, but I don't know how I feel about this.

The child interests that would lead to their future careers as adults like: Ben's talent in architecture with building the Dam and the clubhouse, Mike's knowledge of Derry history, and Bill's talent as a storyteller, and Richie's Voices were ignored.

The Barrens were no longer the place for the group to hang out in during the summer

Henry's group got barely anything to do, why exactly was he so pissed at Ben to knife him at the start? Patrick could have been any random bully since he had zero background. So is Henry dead? That will certainly change a certain event in the next movie.

I think the middle was kind of weak, the movie began to focus too much on jump scares. It felt like the movie actually stopped to do one after another. I think we badly needed to see IT kill another red shirt kid or two to keep up the menace. In the novel we saw Pennywise turn into The Creature from the Black Lagoon and yank a kids head off, and the way he killed Patrick was way more freaky.

One of the biggest beefs I had with the miniseries was the changed scenes of IT trying to scare the Losers, and the movie ended up changing a ton of those scares too. The only one that stayed the same was Beverly, I wish the movie had shown the kids encounters, with the bloody photo album, the werewolf, Pennywise in the snow, and drown kids. Mike's bird always sucked so I didn't mind that being changed, the burning hands behind the door was good.

The entire climax in the sewers was changed with Bev being kidnapped which kind of weakened it, when in the novel and miniseries she was the group's best marksmen with the slingshot, volunteered to go into the sewer, and the one that dealt the most damage to Pennywise.

The physical beatdown of IT from the kids were so thuggish. So different from the imaginary magic weapons of the novel and miniseries.

The writers were pushing the Bill and Bev romance HARD, no no no no don't do that for the next movie. I will be disappointed if they went in that direction over Ben and Bev, they are one of my favorite couples.

I'm glad the movie is such a huge hit, since that will get many people to check out the novel and maybe even the miniseries. The kid cast was great and the new Pennywise did what need to be done, but I really wish the movie could have followed the novel more closely. Maybe I would enjoy this much more if I look at this as an alternate universe story. I want to give it a few days so I can make up my mind about what I think of the movie.

 

[JasonJ]

The film dragged a little for me, especially during the second act. The third act, between the climax and the ending, felt rushed to me. There were things that were not addressed.

When Pennywise attacked and devoured his victims his eyes turning inward into his skull, showing only the whites, reminded me of sharks, like the Great White, whose eyes turn white as well just before attacking. It's a little odd, to me, that Pennywise looked like a early 20th century clown in the early American colonial period.

Not everyone at my showing was impressed with the film. One person described in a voice heard by everyone in the audiotoroium that the film was shitty. People rushed out of there and i was only one who stayed to the end, where I heard the laughter of Pennywise.

I haven't seen the film yet, but I had read that the director wanted to use CGI to do the eyeballs diverting thing.. until Skarsgard mentioned that he could do it himself... so that part, is actually Bill Skarsgard rotating his own eyeballs in those directions for real. That is enough to freak me out a little bit.

 

[ichab]

I really enjoyed it and am glad that it's doing so well at the box office. I loved the creepiness of pennywise and thought the director did a good job of building suspense. The child actors also did a great job in their parts.

On the down side I have to agree with Dream on the movie straying away from the source material. I think the T.V miniseries did a better job on building the relationships between the characters and I also wonder how they resolve everything with the way this ended. But overall, great movie and can't wait for part two.

 

[Jax]

Warner Bros. has updated their estimate for It reporting a $123.1 million opening for the horror film

 

[Dream]

‘It’s’ Director Andy and Producer Barbara Muschietti on Movie’s Record-Breaking Opening Weekend and Sequel Plans

 

[Trekker4747]

Okay got back from it. Largely okay. The stuff with the kids worked the most for me, the kid of Stranger Things, the "lead kid" and the girl (Beverly) really stood out the most in the performance department. Some negatives for it are that I don't think the inherent fears and such of some of the kids wasn't very well established, the lead kid with his missing brother, Beverly with her sexual abuse, a little bit with the Jewish kid, and a little bit with the black kid. And, Strange Things kid.... Clowns. I guess.

I think giving all of the kids much more and equable time on their mundane fears they had to overcome before confronting Pennywise would've done a lot of good.

The stuff with the girl was really good and just creepy as hell given the material with her.

I look forward to seeing what they do with the second half of the story.

(I call for Jessica Chastain as adult Beverly.)

The CGI for Pennywise was used too much, he was more effective when he was being creepy while also being "normal" (like when in the storm drain) whenever he turns into a CGI effect the illusion stops working.

But, good. Much better than the mini-series which is overrated, IMHO.

 

[marillion]

Wow... Great movie... yes... a lot of the source material was overlooked or underplayed but i did not have a problem with much of that other than Ben being the kid who is into the history of the town.

I want so badly for Mike to play the role he did in the book and mini series...

I will agree that while time has not been kind to the mini series, it was pretty faithful to the source material, much like ABC's Shining mini series was.

Now, let the conversation about casting the adults kicking high gear. Mine:

Bill: Will Weaton (wont EVER happen, but i think he would do amazing in the role
Bev: Amy Adams (duh) or Bryce Dallas Howard
Eddie: Paul Rudd
Ben: Chris Evans or Liam Hemsworth
Richie: no clue
Stan: Paul Rudd or Sebastian Stan
Mike: Daniel Glover (duh) or ummmm... Idris Alba?

Age is a huge issue here.... i will keep working on it.

 

[Tosk]

I personally would rather they cast as unknown as they did the kids. Casting stars because they look vaguely like the kids seems like a good way to make the sequel feel contrived.

 

[marillion]

I actually agree with that 100%... but with It's sucess, they are going to literally dump piles of cash into the sequel. While i would love to see Will Weaton as the lead, my gut tells me they will push for big names

 

[Tom]

Jessica Chastain or Amy Adams for Bev.