Skip to main content

‘It’ surpasses ‘The Exorcist’ as the highest-grossing horror movie ever

It
Warner Bros. Pictures
After a monstrous (pun intended) opening weekend, It has already floated to another box office record. It’s no surprise the film blew away the record for the best opening weekend for a horror film, after advanced sales were among the best ever for the genre. However, the movie has now sailed past horror icon The Exorcist to become the highest-grossing horror movie of all time in the United States, according to Variety. And the film still has plenty of spine-chilling runway left to go.

It‘s presales put the Andres Muschietti-directed scary movie on track to reach an estimated $60 million at the box office during its opening weekend, but the film did much better than expected, nearly doubling that number for a total of $117.2 million by Sunday, September 13 to become the third highest-grossing movie of 2017, beating out Spider-Man: Homecoming, and coming in just behind Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Since then, the movie has barely slowed down, earning a total of $236.3 million domestically on a modest $35 million budget.

At $408.2 million globally, It still has a short way to go to beat The Exorcist on the international level, which earned $441.3 million in its box office stint. But that doesn’t seem like much more than a speed bump in what could be a record-stomping run. The film has already become the ninth highest R-rated film of all time and earned the crown as the biggest September release in history.

News of It‘s impressive numbers comes on the heels of the worst Labor Day weekend box office in 17 years, according to Box Office Mojo. The top 12 films this year made only $51.5 million combined over the long weekend.

The appeal of It is widespread. People still seem to find the story as intriguing as ever, especially fans of the 1990 TV miniseries starring Tim Curry as the chillingly evil clown, Pennywise. A Fandango survey of 1,000 people found that a majority of It‘s pre-sale ticket buyers watched the TV adaptation.

With the numbers being as incredible as they are, the decision to break the story into two parts looks especially wise. Warner Bros. will release a second film, as the book follows the group in both childhood and adulthood. The first film, which stars Bill Skarsgard and Jaeden Lieberher, focuses on the younger years of its misfit ensemble. The prospective sequel is intended to pick up their story decades later.

In the meantime, It is rolling along at a pace unprecedented in the genre.

Update: This post has been updated to account for ticket sales since the film’s release. 

Editors' Recommendations

Stephanie Topacio Long
Stephanie Topacio Long is a writer and editor whose writing interests range from business to books. She also contributes to…
Jaeden Martell on Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, Stephen King, and the horrors of technology
mr harrigans phone jaeden martell interview 2

Jaeden Martell is no stranger to the world of Stephen King. As young Bill Denbrough in 2017's It and 2019's It: Chapter Two, Martell, along with a cast of talented young actors such as Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard and Jack Dylan Grazer of Shazam!, battled the horrors of suburbia, puberty, and Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

Martell is back in King's haunted Maine stomping grounds with Mr. Harrigan's Phone on Netflix. Co-starring Donald Sutherland, the film focuses on the relationship between Sutherland's reclusive Mr. Harrigan and Martell's shy, mournful teenager, Craig, and what happens when Mr. Harrington keeps calling his young friend even after he dies. In a conversation with Digital Trends, Martell discusses the film's many themes, how it's not just a horror film, and what other Stephen King film adaptation he would like to star in.

Read more
5 underrated Stephen King movies you need to watch
Carla Gugino glances to the side in Gerald's Game.

It’s officially October, which means that spooky movie season is finally upon us. No October would be complete, either, without the release of a new Stephen King adaptation. Fortunately, Netflix's adaptation of Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, which is based on King’s novella of the same name, is set to fill that annual spot this year.

As all horror fans will know, almost no author’s work has been adapted into as many films and TV shows over the years as Stephen King’s. However, while a great number of the King adaptations that Hollywood has released have received acclaim and widespread attention, many of them have also been forgotten or lost to time.

Read more
Smile review: A cruelly scary studio horror movie
Caitlin Stasey smiles, unnervingly.

The alarm has been tripped. The backdoor is wide open. And who or whatever’s impersonating the security-system operator on the other end of the phone line has just croaked three words that no horror movie character would ever want to hear: “Look behind you.” The command puts Rose (Sosie Bacon), the increasingly petrified heroine of Smile, between a rock and a hard place. She has to look, even if every fiber of her being would rather not. And so does the audience. We’re locked into her campfire crucible, forced to follow the hesitant backward tilt of her gaze, and the anticipatory creep of a camera that’s slow to reveal what that disembodied voice has invited her (and us) to discover.

Smile is full of moments like this. It’s a nasty, diabolically calibrated multiplex scream machine — the kind of movie that sends ripples of nervous laughter through packed theaters, the kind that marionettes the whole crowd into a synchronized dance routine of frazzled nerves and spilled popcorn. Turn up your nose, if you must, at the lowly cheap sting of a jump scare. Smile gives that maligned device a workout for the ages. It rattles with aplomb.

Read more