“It” opening with $100m+ Box Office weekend

When box office estimates first emerged for director Andres Muschietti's “It” back in late August, the numbers suggested that the opening weekend would yield numbers in the $50-60 million range. It turns out that those guesses could not have been more wrong, as the latest figures show that the new coming-of-age/horror feature should make nearly twice that much and destroy some September records on its way.

Box Office Mojo posted its Saturday morning update, and “It” looked good to cross the century mark and make north of $100 million this weekend in the US Box Office alone. The Stephen King adaptation got off to an amazing start with $13.5 million from Thursday shows (another record broken), and managed to make $51 million from Friday screenings alone.

The numbers are eye-popping for the month of September. The previous top opening weekend for the month was orchestrated by “Hotel Transylvania 2” back in 2015 - which made $48,464,322 in its first weekend. “It” managed to make $2.6 million more in one day than the animated feature did in three. A $100 million-plus take would mean more than doubling the previous record - and that would be a move that could ultimately change the way that the industry looks at September as a release month.

But it's also not terribly hard to see how this success came together. After a dismal summer season at the movies, the public has been hungry for a major new release - and while “It” carries what would normally look like a prohibitive R-rating, it's clearly feeding the masses. The movie is a true-blue crowd pleaser that invites just as many scares as it does laughs, and it also brings out a nice dose of nostalgia paired with a creepy, classic monster tale.