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After an exceptionally low summer box office at the movie theaters this summer, the remake of Stephen King's It brought in $117.2 million this weekend, breaking the record for the highest September opening weekend. The record was previously held by Hotel Transylvania 2, which opened in 2015 with $48.5 million. The box office gross for It also make it the third-largest opening weekend for 2017. It beat out the highest-earning summer summer blockbuster, Wonder Woman, which brought in $100.5 million its opening weekend at the beginning of
June.
The movie was originally expected to take in around $70 million, according to the N.Y. Times. It also broke the record for largest opening weekend for a horror movie release at any time of year. The previous record-holder was 2011's Paranormal Activity 3, which opened with $58 million.
The film has taken in $179 million worldwide, according to Variety. The film was made with a $35 million budget. The film is the first installment of a duology.
It currently holds an 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with an audience score of 89%. It was directed by Andy Muschietti and Bill Skarsgard played the iconic Pennywise villain. The original adaptation of the Stephen King novel was a two-part ABC miniseries starring Tim Curry as Pennywise and attracted 30 million viewers.