"It" Screenings Attract Clown Lurkers To Cinemas

It, the new film based on the well-known literary work by Stephen King, dominated the box office this weekend, bringing in a whopping $117 million, according to IMDB. That smashes the record for the largest September opening weekend, as well as the best debut ever for a horror movie. In fact, the only R-rated film ever to best It's numbers was Deadpool, which brought in over $132 million during its opening weekend. Fans flocked to cinemas all over the world to take in what is sure to become a new horror classic, but depending on which screening room you were in, some people got way more than they bargained for.

Several social media users on Twitter shared their experiences of having real-life clown lurkers show up in the audience where they were seeing the film, oftentimes carrying the iconic red balloon, as Pennywise does in the movie. Played by Bill Skarsgard this time around, as well as Tim Curry in a 1990 TV mini-series adaptation of the source material, the central character is one of the best-known manifestations of evil in horror lore, so when individuals decide to come to screenings dressed as a clown, it's sure to make most people at least a little nervous. Coupled with the fact that some of these makeup-wearing jokesters moved from seat to seat, it's like having the on-screen experience sitting the in the seat next to you. If you're like me and are kind of creeped out by clowns to begin with, that'll be a straight-up no for clown lurkers at It showings. 

This aspect of the film's opening weekend has not been the only noteworthy storyline. As noted by The Independent, an infamous orgy scene that appears in the original Stephen King work was left out of the movie entirely, but not without some debate as to whether or not it should be left in. As scribe Gary Dauberman said, "I think it’s the one scene that everybody kind of brings up and it’s such a shame. While it’s an important scene, it doesn’t define the book in any way I don’t think and it shouldn’t. We know what the intent was of that scene and why he put it in there, and we tried to accomplish what the intent was in a different way."

Have you seen It? Is it worthy of the hype? Let us know what you think!