‘It’ is already one of the biggest horror movies ever at the box office – and now, it’s reached a suitably spooky milestone just in time for Halloween.
As of this past weekend, the Warner Bros/New Line Cinema production from director Andy Muschietti has surpassed $666 million at the global box office. An apt sum for the diabolical Stephen King tale.
Whilst ‘It’ had already become the highest grossing R-rated horror movie ever, this puts it that bit closer to dethroning the official biggest horror hit of all time: 1999’s ‘The Sixth Sense,’ which made just under $673 million (with a PG-13 rating in the US, although in the UK it was given a 15).
Of course, it should be noted these figures do not take inflation into account: under those circumstances, 1973’s ‘The Exorcist’ remains the biggest R-rated horror ever, its $441 million box office take equating to more than $1 billion in 2017 money. Plus 1975’s ‘Jaws’ grossed $471 million, an even higher figure today; although, for some reason, not everyone agrees that should be counted as a horror movie.
Either way, New Line Cinema are still pushing ‘It’ heavily in US cinemas, despite the fact that it’s been out for almost eight weeks. Challenging Lionsgate’s ‘Jigsaw’ for the Halloween box office crown, New Line expanded ‘It’ to 2,500 screens across the US last week, and are hoping to break the $700 million mark before the film leaves theatres.
Whether ‘It’ achieves that milestone or not, the film definitely seems to have challenged conventional thinking on what an R-rated horror movie can be, as well as further renewing interest in big screen takes on Stephen King.
As well as the second half of ‘It’ (due September 2019), horror fans can also look forward to a new take on ‘Pet Sematary’ from Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer, directorial duo behind the excellent though underseen 2014 horror ‘Starry Eyes.’
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