Stephen King’s epic novel IT was originally turned into a 3+ hour miniseries back in 1990, but Andy Muschietti‘s two-film adaptation of the novel is actually going to be a much longer affair when all is said and done. Back in 2017, IT ran 2 hours, 15 minutes long, and Muschietti has just confirmed reports that IT: Chapter Two is a considerably longer conclusion to the story.
If watched back-to-back, Muschietti’s IT films will run a total of five hours!
“At the beginning, when you’re writing and building the beats of the story, everything that you put in there seems very essential to the story. However, when you have the movie finally edited and it’s 4 hours long, you realize that some of the events and some of the beats can be easily lifted but the essence of the story remains intact,” Muschietti told Digital Spy.
He continued, “You cannot deliver a 4-hour movie because people will start to feel uncomfortable – no matter what they see – but we ended up having a movie that is 2 hours and 45 minutes, and the pacing is very good. Nobody who’s seen the movie has had any complaint.”
Epic event horror, as an adaptation of King’s novel should be. Bring it on.
Because every 27 years evil revisits the town of Derry, Maine, IT: Chapter Two brings the characters—who’ve long since gone their separate ways—back together as adults, nearly three decades after the events of the first film.
Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain (Mama) stars as Beverly Marsh, James McAvoy (Glass) as Bill Denbrough, Bill Hader (HBO’s “Barry,”) as Richie Tozier, Isaiah Mustafa (“Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments”) as Mike Hanlon, Jay Ryan (“Mary Kills People”) as Ben Hanscom, James Ransone (“The Wire”) as Eddie Kaspbrak, and Andy Bean (“Swamp Thing”) as Stanley Uris.
Reprising their roles as the original members of the Losers Club are Jaeden Martell as Bill, Wyatt Oleff as Stanley, Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie, Finn Wolfhard as Richie, Sophia Lillis as Beverly, Chosen Jacobs as Mike, and Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben.
Pennywise will return in theaters and IMAX worldwide on September 6, 2019.
