--- description: The adaptation of Stephen King's thriller "It" scored $117.2 million at the box office domestically during its opening weekend. title: 'It' Shatters Box Office Records With Massive Opening Weekend image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt37820cf20b514081/6988dcf3fb4eaccade893a29/it-movie.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _It_ Shatters Box Office Records With Massive Opening Weekend by [Jennifer Calfas](/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 10, 2017 5:42 PM CUT  Warner Bros. Pictures by [Jennifer Calfas](/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 10, 2017 5:42 PM CUT The highly anticipated [_It_](http://time.com/4934369/movie-review-it-stephen-king/ "undefined") is here — and it’s already smashed a number of box office records. Produced by Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema, the adaptation of [Stephen King](http://time.com/4929570/stephen-king-it-novel-time-cover/ "undefined")‘s thriller scored $117.2 million at the domestic box office during its opening weekend and another $62 million overseas for a total global start of $179.2 million. The movie smashed records for the biggest box office opening ever for the month of September — and has one of the largest openings of the year. _It_ also surpassed 2011’s _Paranormal Activity 3_ for the largest opening day for a R-rated thriller, and had the biggest start for any King adaptation (which includes films like _Carrie_ and _The Shining_), [according to _The_ _Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/weekend-box-office-it-movie-scares-up-record-thursday-night-1036714 "undefined"). The horror film follows a group of kids as the evil Pennywise the clown emerges from sewers to terrorize them and their town. The film was directed by Andy Muschietti, best known for _Mama_, and stars Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and earned 86% on [Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/it%5F2017/ "undefined"). Some have viewed the film as not as terrifying as King’s novel, including TIME film critic Stephanie Zacharek. “As always, the horrors you get a close look at are much less terrifying than those that remain unseen,” Zacharek [writes about the movie](http://time.com/4934369/movie-review-it-stephen-king/?utm%5Fcampaign=time&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fmedium=social&xid=time%5Fsocialflow%5Ftwitter "undefined"). “And that’s the chief problem with adapting any Stephen King novel: Nothing ever looks as scary on-screen as it does in our minds, when we’re sitting alone with a book. With _It,_ seeing isn’t the same as believing.” The film’s massive debut comes after a lackluster summer at the box office, which had [its worst weekend in 16 years](http://time.com/4917562/summer-box-office-worst-weekend/ "undefined") in August. _It_ dominated its competition this weekend, too, with _Home Again_, starring Reese Witherspoon, earning just $9 million for the second highest spot domestically. _The Hitman’s Bodyguard_, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds, came in third after sitting at the top of the box office for several weeks. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4935221/it-box-office-stephen-king/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4935221/it-box-office-stephen-king/"},"headline":"It Shatters Box Office Records With Massive Opening Weekend","datePublished":"2017-09-10T17:42:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:21:29.059Z","description":"The highly anticipated thriller is already smashing records","url":"https://time.com/4935221/it-box-office-stephen-king/","keywords":["movies","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt37820cf20b514081/6988dcf3fb4eaccade893a29/it-movie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Calfas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt37820cf20b514081/6988dcf3fb4eaccade893a29/it-movie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"it-movie","caption":"","creditText":"Warner Bros. 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