By Ready for even more debilitatingly-scary, dimensional-hopping clowns? Our own Jesse Lab found It Chapter Two‘s lengthy runtime to drag, and its welcome fizzle out, box office numbers on the Stephen King sequel would still indicate a whole lot of people were down to clown for the sophomore spookfest’s nearly-three hour runtime. And if its (IT‘s) director has his way, there’ll be even more.
Speaking to ET, director Andy Muschietti confirmed he’s still committed to King’s terrifying world, saying he’s “in talks with the studio to make a supercut, which is basically the two movies edited together with all the material that is not in the released versions.” This tracks with the hints dropped by him and producer Barbara Muschietti, though the notion of a single edit of the two films would appear to be a new one.
More than just an edit, there seems to be more content on the way. Still working on the films actively, Muschietti mentions “a couple of scenes that [he] want[s] to shoot to make this a new experience.” The supercut of both chapters would feature new footage to make the experience more than a simple edit, instead playing as King’s tome-like novel does; a horror juggernaut to be taken in completely. The new footage would smooth the transition, and be both pulled from the novel as well as entirely original. “I want to be a little cryptic about it.”
Muschietti’s fluidity in how audiences experience his film is indicative of the increasing overlap between traditional serialized content, in the form of TV shows, and feature films. Delivering this complete version, Muschietti seems open. “People can choose how to see it, all in one or, you know, making little pauses. Or bingeing! Maybe it’s divided in episodes. People now, they binge a series for 10 hours of viewing, so it wouldn’t surprise me.”
Quentin Tarantino recently released an extended, episodic version of The Hateful Eight on Netflix, and rumors of a longer Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, also divided into streamable chapters, have surfaced. The precedent for massive, modern films being lengthened with previously-cut content while also edited into episodes is there, the lines between TV and films growing blurrier by the day. Time will tell is Muschietti’s plans float to the top, or simply end up in the gutter.
‘IT Chapter Two’ Director Andy Muschietti Says He’s ‘Not Done’ Filming (Exclusive) [ET]