After the disappointment of The Dark Tower, there must have been concern about the potential performance of It. Turns out, no one needed to worry – the new Stephen King horror adaptation has smashed records with a hugely successful $117 million opening at the US box office, according to studio estimates.
It nabbed the largest September opening, largest autumn opening, and the largest opening for a horror movie of any rating. Clearly Pennywise the terrifying clown touched a few nerves while scaring up plenty of business. The follow-up, which will catch up with the Losers' Club kids from the movie as adults, is already in the works and there's clearly some anticipation for it now. And the film also did well overseas, taking in $62 million for a $179.1 million global opening.
There was a big gap between the horror and its comrade in new arrival status, but programming a Reese Witherspoon comedy – which itself has enjoyed good reviews – against It has panned out. Home Again earned $9 million in second. The Hitman's Bodyguard, knocked from its top spot, made do with third place, earning $4.8 million. Annabelle: Creation naturally took a slight hit given the new horror competition, but Warner Bros./New Line won't be too worried, since the studio owns both films. The doll pic added $4 million, taking its total to $96.2 million in the US. Fifth was Wind River with $3.2 million.
Leap! fell to sixth place on $2.5 million, while Spider-Man: Homecoming stayed in seventh and took $2 million, but passed a worldwide milestone, boosting its total to $823 million. Dunkirk was down to eighth on $1.9 million. Logan Lucky dropped to ninth and $1.8 million, while The Emoji Movie was 10th on $1 million.