It

Stephen King's sprawling 1986 novel about a shape-shifting monster that preys on children in a small Maine town had already been adapted into a 1990 TV miniseries starring Tim Curry as Pennywise. Director Andrés Muschietti's 2017 film took a different approach: it split the story into two movies, with this first chapter focusing entirely on the Losers' Club as kids in the summer of 1989. The result was a critical and commercial phenomenon that redefined modern horror.

With a modest $35 million budget, the film earned over $700 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing horror movie ever at the time. Muschietti, working from a screenplay by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman, emphasized character and atmosphere over jump scares. The young cast—Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Jeremy Ray Taylor, and Chosen Jacobs—spent two weeks in a boot camp to build real chemistry, which translates into the film's heartfelt camaraderie.

Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise became an instant icon, a malevolent force that manifests as each child's deepest fear. The film balances genuine terror with poignant coming-of-age moments, earning praise from King himself, who called it "a wonderful adaptation." The success of It proved that R-rated horror could dominate the box office, paving the way for a sequel and a prequel series. [edit]

In the summer of 1989, the town of Derry, Maine, seems like any other quiet New England community. But beneath its peaceful surface, children have been disappearing at an alarming rate. The story begins with seven-year-old Georgie Denbrough chasing his paper boat into a storm drain during a rainstorm. Inside the drain, he meets a friendly clown who calls himself Pennywise. The clown's smile turns sinister, and Georgie vanishes.

Georgie's older brother Bill (Jaeden Martell) is devastated and refuses to believe his brother is dead. Bill stutters badly, a condition that makes him a target for bullies, but he is determined to find out what happened. He forms an unlikely bond with six other outcasts: Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis), a red-haired girl trapped in an abusive home and plagued by vicious rumors; Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor), a lonely new kid who is overweight and secretly in love with Beverly; Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), a wisecracking joker who masks his insecurities with crude humor; Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer), a hypochondriac smothered by his overprotective mother; Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff), a perfectionist Jewish boy struggling with his faith; and Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs), a black child whose parents died in a mysterious fire.

The seven kids, who call themselves the Losers' Club, discover that they share terrifying encounters with a shapeshifting entity that preys on their worst fears. For Bill, it's the ghost of Georgie. For Beverly, a geyser of blood erupts from her bathroom sink. For Eddie, a leprous diseased figure. For Stan, a disturbing painting of a woman. For Richie, a terrifying clown statue. For Ben, a headless boy. For Mike, a fiery apparition of his parents. They piece together that the entity—which they call "It"—lives in the sewers beneath Derry and awakens every 27 years to feed on children's fear before devouring them.

The Losers' Club decides to confront the monster. Their investigation takes them through Derry's dark history at the town library, where they learn of a centuries-long pattern of tragedies. They explore the abandoned house on Neibolt Street, a gateway to It's lair, where each member must face a personalized horror. Beverly confronts her abusive father, Bill faces Georgie's death, Eddie overcomes his hypochondria, and Mike uses a bolt gun to fight the fiery ghost of his mother. The group arms themselves with whatever weapons they can find—Bill uses his father's silver slug, Richie wields a baseball bat, and Eddie carries his asthma inhaler—and descends into the sewers for a final confrontation.[edit]