Box Office: ‘It: Chapter Two’ Heading to $90 Million Opening

Variety.com: “It: Chapter Two” is already scaring up ticket sales at the domestic box office as it heads toward a $90 million opening weekend.

Following $37.4 million at Friday’s box office, the Warner Bros. horror film is now set to score the best opening since “The Lion King,” which premiered in July with $191.8 million. The film should also easily see the second-biggest horror movie launch of all time, beating out last year’s “Halloween,” which nabbed $76 million.

“It: Chapter Two” debuted at 4,570 domestic locations in the widest launch ever for an R-rated film; however the project’s estimated $90 million opening is still $33 million less than its 2017 predecessor “It.” The film picks up 27 years after the franchise’s first entry, featuring a grown up cast that includes James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain and Bill Hader who must face the return of a murderous cosmic entity.

Pennywise is also seeing success overseas, where the film has drummed up $39 million to date. In the United Kingdom, the film earned $3 million, nabbing the country’s biggest opening day for a Warner Bros film in 2019 in addition to its second biggest opening day ever for a horror film. Other top earners from Friday included Mexico ($2.5 million), Spain ($1.1 million) and Sweden ($509,000).

Based off of Stepen King’s novel of the same name, the film also features the return of Andy Muschietti who directed from Gary Dauberman’s script. Barbara Muschietti, Dan Lin and Roy Lee produced.