By After three weeks of nothing but crap and indies filling theaters were people desperate to get out and see a good movie? Yes, yes they were, and IT rode that success all the way to an insane box office that outstripped even the wildest of expectations as it it blew past box office records all weekend.
IT destroyed the September/October release frame record by more than doubling Gravity‘s paltry $55.8 million. It’s total box office of $120 million (that’s nearly four times its budget, by the way) was more like a summer tent pole than a fall sleeper. It’s also the biggest horror debut of all time, the biggest opening night for an R-rated film ever, the second highest opening weekend for an R-rated movie (behind Deadpool), and the third biggest opening weekend of the year (behind Guardians Vol. 2 and Beauty and the Beast). It actually made more money than every single movie made over the three day Labor Day weekend — in two days, with no 3D pricing, and with a hurricane closing most of Florida’s theaters. IT accounted for 75 percent of the entire box office this weekend!
All I can say is that there are some WB executives somewhere on the celebratory bender of this century.
The best part about this all, however, is that IT deserves a big box office. It’s really quite good in a way horror movies usually aren’t. Did you get to check it out?
1. IT – $117,150,000
2. Home Again – $9,028,222
3. The Hitman’s Bodyguard – $4,850,000
4. Annabelle: Creation – $4,000,000
5. Wind River – $3,210,200
6. Leap! – $2,500,100
7. Spider-Man: Homecoming – $2,015,000
8. Dunkirk – $1,826,425
9. Logan Lucky – $4,456,456
10. The Emoji Movie – $1,060,000
