Continuing its box office streak, biggest horror movie opening ever.
Now coming in with a $218.7 million domestic tally, IT has ed Get Out's $175.5 million from earlier this year, making it the No. 2 R-rated horror film of all time behind The Exorcist, not ing for inflation. IT has also since become the highest grossing Stephen King movie in the U.S., besting The Green Mile's $136 million total.
As reported by THR, IT drew in $60 million from 4,103 theaters during its second weekend, again making history as the biggest sophomore outing for a horror movie to date. Overseas, it pulled in an additional $60.3 million from 56 markets for a foreign total of $152.6 million, including a record-breaking horror opening of $13.8 million in Mexico. That brings it to a staggering $371.3 million worldwide against a $35 million budget. According to THR, the movie is set to finish its North American run with north of $300 million.
Elsewhere, Michael Cuesta action flick American Assassin nabbed the No. 2 spot with a solid $14.8 million from 3,154 theaters, while Darren Aronfsky's Jennifer Lawrence-led thriller, mother!, came in third with $12.3 million from 2,368 theaters. It's worth nothing that mother! opened to significantly less theaters than American Assassin and IT, but it nonetheless marks the lowest nationwide launch of Jennifer Lawrence's career, and both the critical and audience responses thus far have been largely divided. (It currently holds a dismal F rating on CinemaScore).
IT's success, on the other hand, is a needed win for the North American box office, which has suffered one of the most troubling summer seasons in history. Despite hits like The LEGO Ninjago Movie both open next week, but given the film's critical praise and blockbuster start, it's unlikely that its pace will slow by much in the coming weeks.
Source: THR