Stephen King’s “It” Remade for the Big Screen

Stephen King’s “It” is a classic of literary horror and King has a long history of his works being adapted to the screen. “It” was a TV Movie and will now be adapted to the big screen.

Cinematical says:

Back to It — As you might remember, this is the story of a group of kids who take it upon themselves to bring this creepy, shape-shifting creature called Pennywise down, back in ’58. They hurt it, flee, and then decide to bind themselves together in case they ever need to fight It again. In one of the most warped rationales ever, this involves not only blood, but the lone girl of the group having sex with all of her boy pre-teen friends. Years later, the thing, who often takes the shape of the classic creepy clown, starts killing again and the friends reunite for another baddie butt-kicking.

Preteen sex and killer demon clowns? No wonder this is a classic!

I remember watching this on TV, but I was more interested in how these people all lead different lives and were pulled back together by an oath made in their youth. I was past the age that the kids were at the time and just entering college, it really made me consider that my pals at the time might be strangers to me 20 years later. It was an emotional milstone for me.

Then I was brought to near phobia of clowns by the sight of Pennywise.

I really think that this could benefit from a retelling. The story is irrelevant to the dates, so it doesn’t have to be set in 1958 to 1985. I just hope that when they do this they don’t focus so much on Pennywise that he becomes the main character. The story was at its heart more about the kids and their relationships later in life.

I worry that today’s audiences will be “treated” to a more spectacular Pennywise and his true horror will be lost. Its a tough thing making a clown look scary and IT was scary.

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49 thoughts on “Stephen King’s “It” Remade for the Big Screen

  1. I liked the book and even enjoy the TV movie. I think with the right director the movie could be excellent, exspecially with CGI avaliable today. Hope it’s more about the main characters and not all eye candy. Also heard they are making a movie of King’s novella Dolan’s Cadillac which was a great story. Other King books that were great movies are: Carrie, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist, Stand By Me, ‘Salem’s Lot, and The Shinning. And others that deserve credit are: Needful Things, The Dark Half, The Stand.

  2. The next adaption of a Stephen King book will be probably ‘Cell’. For those who don’t know the story of this one, it starts right from the first pages with the apocalypse: ‘Mobile phones deliver the apocalypse to millions of unsuspecting humans by wiping their brains of any humanity, leaving only aggressive and destructive impulses behind.'(Yes, they become some kind of zombies.) ‘Those without cell phones, like illustrator Clayton Riddell and his small band of “normies,” must fight for survival, and their journey to find Clayton’s estranged wife and young son rockets the book toward resolution.’ (Description from Amazon.com.)

    Really liked the first half of the book, but didn’t like that much what becomes of the ‘changed’ in the second half. Can’t be compared to IT of course.

    Unfortunately that one seems to be directed by Eli Roth. Hope he changes his mind here and someone else will do the job.

  3. Well, it wasn’t a movie it was a mini-series which is why so much material was actually placed into it. A movie is bound to cut out a lot more stuff from the original novel unless they actually chose to shoot a movie that is around 3 hours long which I doubt they will let happen.

  4. I’m torn on this. My favorite King story and probably the best movie adaptation. The cast was perfect, so that really can’t be improved upon IMO. There was no sex scene in the sewers in the movie but the book was pretty explicit. In fact, part of the reason I am willing to accept a remake of this is that I think there were several important moments left out and this would be a chance to rectify that

    1. I agree. I was very upset because there were a lot of key scenes that were not showed in the film. For example, the part where Beverly and Bill showed they still loved each other while they were adults. I saw the movie before the film and personally I had no idea that they still had feelings for each other, only in the book did I realize that. I thought they put way too much emphasis on Pennywise and not enough in the “Loser’s Club” or their feelings toward each other.

  5. I know most of us here hate, hate, hate, remakes. But doesn’t a remake of “IT” seem right? I think this is a film that could actually benefit from a remake for the following reasons:

    -Its one of King’s best stories
    -The T.V. mini series was only ok and had some kind of cheesy television factor throughout it. It’s hard to explain but I know you all know what I mean. The mini series had a “cheesy” factor that may not have been present had it been made as a feature movie release.
    -The special effects could definitely use an update. When Pennywise “changes” toward the end of the film, the effect was pretty awful – even worse than Sci-Fi channel standards.

    This is one remake i’d be excited about seeing at my local multiplex.

  6. Say what you want about the original movie,It was cheesy, stupid, whatever; it was fucking scary. That movie might be the only movie that gave me nightmares. I never understood why people were scared of clowns, and I would make fun of them. Then I saw this fucking movie. I hate clowns now. Me and my sister watched it when it was first relesed on video cassette. I must have been eleven, maybe ten. Today, kids would probably laugh at it, but back then, this film was the talk of the town.

  7. Damn it…

    Top Unmade Stephen King stories

    The Dark Tower
    The Talisman
    The Long Walk
    Eyes of the Dragon
    Bag of Bones
    Dolan’s Cadillac
    Blaze
    From a Buick 8

    Remake fodder…

    The Running Man…The Ahhnold version doesn’t share much with this story except the Game Show and title.

    Christine

    Cujo

    The Tommyknockers

  8. “IT” is a classic King novel and I’m all for a remake but I’m afraid the book is really hard to get right on screen.(like many King novels) Why not get Tim Curry to reprise his role?

  9. god i hated the movie the mist…..only cause the book was short n sweet….but it was a fuked ending lol that stands out in peoples minds..if any king work i want it wouldnt be this….i want the fucking gunslinger…..i mean seriously wtf IT!
    Roland Deschain is the mother of all asskickery
    you can make it a 4-5 movie asskicking affair!
    viva los dark towers! btw i hated how they ended so they can change that lol

    1. Ah, Gunslinger… one of my all time favorite stories.

      Good call.

      I don’t mind “IT” because that’s also one of King’s best stories, but the Gunslinger would rule.

    2. i actually thought the mist was one of the best horror movie of this generation….it made u feel hopeless, but i do agree the original short story was better, i would love to see a short based on the monkey as well..

  10. Huh. Didn’t remember the sex in TV movie or was that to racy for TV? Anyway a remake would be spectacular. Let’s hope Tim Curry returns as Pennywise because it would be lame without him.

  11. The original movie gave me nightmares as a teen.

    I highly recommend reading the book. It’ll scare you silly, yet you won’t be able to stop reading. I’m a huge King fan.

  12. I liked both versions of Salem’s Lot for various reasons. The remake of “IT” could be great if done well. I’d pick the director who did “The Mist”, it was unrelenting and didn’t go the easy route at the ending. It was chilling and effective.
    The mini-series of The Shinning stuck more to the book than Kubrick’s and was well done.
    Looking forward…cautiously….same goes for The Thing prequel!

    1. I believe the director for the Mist was Frank Darabont.

      I totally agree with you. I think Darabont did a fantastic job with the Mist. Not only was it scary, but darn right dark at the end. None of that Hollywood happy ending crap – the ending gave me chills and stuck with me for a few days.

  13. A remake of this – hmmm. Full disclosure: never read the book, so the mini-series – for me – was pretty good. I own it, and it is pretty dated. There is a lot to get in there though, so a feature film … I am intrigued. I would probably go see it. As you look at the mini-series today, I think it could be done better.

    But – serious consideration should be made to bring Tim Curry back as Pennywise.

  14. I look forward to this movie actually. All S.K.’s stories made movies are horrible. I havent seen one, no not one, that is even the least bit entertaining. The original IT movie was terrible. I still find it hard to believe that that movie actually had people start fearing clowns, are you kidding me!!! I was 9 when it came out, and I laughed my ass off at the absurdity. Anyways, it will be nice to see a remake and an actual scary clown would be nice…better if they can make him scary psychologically instead of visually. Does anyone know who is gonna pick this up??

    1. I think a remake would be awesome. The mimi series is a classic. I was so scared of clowns when it came out, that it actually took me years to fully watch it. Now its a movie that I watch 2-3 times a year. I just think that if there is gonna be a remake, Tim Curry will have to play Pennywise… there is no way that anybody could ever make a better Pennywise.

  15. damn..another remake, i know i know “no ideas are original” but can we at least get a few new IPs….i mean everything thats coming out is either an adaptation, remake, retelling, reboot, or whatever the fuck name they are using…..please, this is getting kinda irksome

  16. They obviously didn’t learn from their blunder of a mini series remake for the Shining. Stephen King has written a billion stories at this point that any can be turned into film. Why ruin what already worked? Rodney, the problem with horror today is that people don’t know how to create suspense. To the average movie goer, a horror film being scary at this point is a series of unexpected pop ups. The clown not being scary is also a fear for me as well. This scared the crap out of me when I was a kid…I really don’t think this has anything good written on it.

    1. “They obviously didn’t learn from their blunder of a mini series remake for the Shining.Stephen King has written a billion stories at this point that any can be turned into film. Why ruin what already worked?”

      As good as Kubrick’s film was, it strayed far away from King’s book; not to mention that when The Shining was remade for the TV miniseries, it was more in tune with Stephen King’s novel. Oh, did we forget King adapted his own book this time?

    2. yeah the miniseries of The Shining was great. Had that blonde hottie instead of Olive Oyl. I stopped believing Kubrick was a genius a long time ago. He’s no Aronofsky.

  17. i really have soft spot for stephen king film. none of them are particularly good. but i always seem to enjoy them. i liked IT. even though it was a lower budget, it had an authentic feel to it. i hope they don’t mess up that in the remake.

    1. “i really have soft spot for stephen king film. none of them are particularly good”

      I would disagree. Yeah there are some clunkers out there, but consider the following King films:

      Shawshank Redemption
      The Shining
      Stand by Me
      Carrie

    2. good point.
      loved shawshank. forgot it was king.
      stand by me was good.
      absolutely hated the shining. in fact hate every kubric film i’ve ever seen. and i never saw carrie.

      i guess i i’ve seen a lot of king film that appear to be “made-for-tv”

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