By Spencer Coile
After two short weeks and hundreds of millions of dollars later, It is nothing short of a 2017 phenomenon. I work part-time at a movie theater, and have never witnessed anything quite like It. For instance, in its first weekend alone, I worked through seventeen showings of It, where all seventeen sold out -- the last show selling out so quickly, there was still a line outside and wrapped around the building. And my little theater in Indiana is no outlier: Muschietti's dance with a devilish clown has already coughed up $218 million in its first two weeks (earning back its entire budget in one day). And considering the film's genre and its R-rating, this is wholly unprecedented.
This has led many (myself included) to ask: what did Muschietti and the entire production team for It do right?
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05. People love to be spooked in September.
Common wisdom has it that the best time to release a good ol' fashioned horror film is October -- right before Halloween. However, releasing It in mid-September was a terrific idea. Not only had there been a box office drought for weeks, (nothing could top the July success of Spider-Man: Homecoming or Dunkirk), but this gives It more time to earn money before interest in holiday scares fades on November 1st. And now It has raised the bar for 2017 spooky movies that will inevitably follow... and inevitably pale in comparison.
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04. Marketing is everything.
For months, we have been bombarded with red balloons. We have seen scary clown after scary clown. We have been reminded of the original mini-series for It. And like any movie, these methods were utilized in order to get people hyped for the latest foray into Pennywise the clown. Customers at the theater where I work would constantly ask if they were going to receive complimentary red balloons, others said they noticed ballons floating around outside the theater. It went so far as red balloons popping up in public spaces (like the one seen above). Not only did this generate buzz, but it started creeping people out. And we already know how people love to be scared.
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03. Pennywise is the gay icon we never knew we needed (or wanted).
"The Babadook is a gay icon" meme really took off this summer. And while the joke got old relatively early in its popularity, the release of It immediately had people reigniting the conversation. After all, it is not everyday that a queer horror villain comes along for people celebrate. Therefore, Pennywise joins the Babadook as an Internet gay sensation -- with many clamoring to say that the two were a couple, feeding on poor, innocent children.
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02. Never underestimate the power of a hot clown.
2017 is the year of "hot takes": Everybody has something to say, and everybody has something to say about those who have something to say. And while think pieces are popping up about... well, everything, one that was popular this summer was about Bill Skarsgård, the Swedish actor playing Pennywise. "Whoa! Did you notice that Pennywise was kinda hot??" Indeed, because he plays a creepy, sadistic clown, people assumed that the actor behind all of that make-up would be equally unbecoming and menacing. Lo and behold, he is a dreamboat. People are quick to eat that up.
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01. Nostalgia sells.
As we have learned from the success of Stranger Things (also starring actor Finn Wolfhard), genre pieces with plucky kids at the forefront of the narrative really perform, and perform well. Clearly, It is no exception. And while many are quick to nitpick that nostalgia does not a good film make, others will dive back into a spooky, if not dated world -- if only to watch that sparkle between child actors, the sort found in classic 80s films like E.T. or Stand by Me. Mix in the horror elements, and you've got a concoction that entices its audience with scares and jump back into the past.
It truly became an anomaly quickly. Horror movies sell well, but never seen this well . When you consider the last movie that had the success of It at the movie theater, Beauty and the Beast, it becomes abundantly clear that Pennywise the clown and his creepy scares is a bona-fide phenomenon.