We all knew that Pennywise would be back before the film even opened, but the box office gross for It has been so stellar that a release date for a sequel has finally been set: September 6th, 2019. Despite some rumors that they were considering a summer release that very same year, New Line Cinema (and parent company Warner Bros.) clearly don’t want to mess with a good thing.
One can hardly blame them. After all the $35 million-budgeted It: Chapter One has managed to rake in almost $500 million to date worldwide, with no signs of stopping anytime soon. It: Chapter Two is likely to pull in a similar take and keeping the film in the same slot as the first will help guarantee that.
The first film’s creative team is expected to remain intact, along with much of its cast. Bill Skarsgard is already set to reprise the titular fiend and the core child cast will also be returning, though only for flashback sequences. After all, the sequel will take place 27 years after the events of the first, necessitating their roles to be recast with 40-something actors. No performers have been set for those parts just yet, but with everything coming together fast, that won’t hold true for long.
As for behind the camera, Andres Muschietti is all but signed to return as writer/director, with Gary Dauberman also back on scripting duties. The producing team of Barbara Muschietti, Dan Lin, Roy Lee, David Katzenberg, and Seth Grahame-Smith also remain on board. Production is currently expected to begin in late spring or early summer of next year.
In the meantime, we can continue to bask in the glory of the first film, which will likely remain in theaters for the next month or so. The flick will hit home video later this year and reportedly include two cuts of the film: the theatrical and an extended director’s cut. The latter will include an extra 15 minutes of footage cut from the theatrical version for time. If the same ends up holding true, we’ll find ourselves with a full adaptation of Stephen King‘s It that runs well over 5 hours long…a full 2 hours more than the previous 1990 miniseries adaptation! Do you feel like dancing? We do!
