Bill Skarsgard

Just yesterday, we noted the release of a new trailer for the upcoming re-adaptation of Stephen King’s seminal killer-clown novel It. Things seemed pretty normal, at first brush: terrified kids, children’s entertainer straight out of your worst nightmares, eerie red balloon, the whole nine yards. But sharp-eyed viewers have now noted a little Easter egg squirreled away for a split-second in one shot near the end of the trailer. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it, “it” referring in this instance to “IT.”

Pennywise is coming to Castle Rock … sort of. Rather than an official It crossover just yet, the new Stephen King-J.J. Abrams anthology series has added a familiar face to the cast, that of Bill Skarsgard (thankfully without the clown makeup).

After breaking the record for the most trailer views in a single day, expectations couldn’t be higher for Andres Muschietti’s remake of It. It wasn’t long ago that this seemed like a project destined for trouble; the film’s original director  —  and still credited screenwriter  —  Cary Fukunaga dropped out of the production after the studio wouldn’t budge on letting him make an ‘unconventional’ horror film, causing fans to worry we were in for another bland adaptation of a Stephen King novel. All was forgiven, of course, when New Lined delivered that amazing first It teaser trailer, but could they keep it up?

Studio math might be one part proprietary data and one part alchemy, but here’s something I feel pretty confident saying: when your trailer sets the all-time record for most views in a day, you’re about to make some moolah. We all remember that the first teaser trailer for It had 197 million views in its first 24 hours online, shattering the previous (albeit short-lived) record of 139 million set by The Fate of the Furious. Those would be extraordinary numbers for any movie, but for an unapologetic horror film about a demon clown? Not even the most aggressive Warner Bros. projections could have predicted that.

’Tis the season for images of movies that none of us will be able to see until months from now! The latest was a kind of Christmas present from the folks over at the remake of Stephen King’s It, but unfortunately it’s more awkward than scary. The image shows Pennywise — who else? — lurking inside a larger-than-life sewer pipe, seemingly floating somehow above the ground.

The brightly colored clown suit of Stephen King‘s ‘It’ miniseries is now a thing of the past. In the upcoming Warner Bros. film, Pennywise is sporting another style of garb.

Clowns are scary enough to most people, but Stephen King took that terror to a new level with It, his coming-of-age horror novel about a group of friends plagued by an evil entity that takes the form of a fearsome clown. It’s impossible to top Tim Curry’s portrayal of Pennywise in the TV miniseries adaptation King’s story, but director Andy Muschietti appears to have done a fair job of delivering something almost as scary in his new film adaptation of It.

While we continue to mourn Cary Fukunaga’s adaptation of It that might have been, the remake of Stephen King’s classic horror story is still chugging right along with Mama director Andy Muschietti at the helm. Casting has begun for the long-developing project, which has officially locked down the role of Pennywise the terrifying clown, along with at least one of the young kids he’ll be tormenting.