IT made $50 million domestically on Friday alone, and looks set to score a massive $100 million opening weekend. It's been fairly obvious for awhile now that IT was going to be a big deal at the box office. The Stephen King adaptation has been heavily buzzed about since its first trailer set the internet on fire early this year. Subsequent marketing has done nothing to put out that blaze of anticipation, and Hollywood is sure glad for that, after a summer that was down nearly across the board at the box office.
What's truly remarkable is just how much IT is outperforming initial expectations. For the longest time, industry analysts were predicting a $50 million plus opening weekend for IT, which would have set a new record for September already. Then in the last week or so, the predictions were revised to $60 million plus, then upped even more to $70 million plus. Then came Thursday night, where IT earned a whopping $13.5 million in preview screenings. This led the predictions to be revised again to an $80 million plus opening.
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That last prediction held for about a day as The Wrap reports that IT hauled in a gigantic $51 million on Friday alone, breaking the September opening weekend record on its first official day in theaters. Now, IT is predicted to end up earning a towering $103 million opening when all is said and done. If that happens, IT would become the fifth film of 2017 to open to more than $100 million, after Beauty and the Beast, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Wonder Woman.
If the above prediction holds up, IT is also poised to set the all-time record for horror film openings, knocking off I Am Legend from the top spot. To put IT's projected number in perspective, I Am Legend opened to $77 million back in 2007, and that was with Will Smith starring and a PG-13 rating to boot. A $100 million plus weekend would also easily make IT more successful than any October opening ever too.
One record IT is unlikely to break - assuming the estimates for this weekend don't get revised upward yet again after today - is the record for highest opening R-rated film. That's held by Deadpool, which was released to $132 million. But one thing's for certain - at the box office, IT is truly a monster.
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Source: The Wrap
