The horror genre has been in a serious renaissance for the past few years. Rather than stale sequels, filmmakers have been bringing new and exciting properties to theaters. And the result has been countless critical and box office successes. But with the age of nostalgia bringing on countless reboots, it’s no surprise that classics like Halloween and IT have been adapted for a modern audience. IT: Chapter Two will jump 27 years in the future, but we shouldn’t expect Pennywise to return in any sort of spin-off.
The IT movies and original miniseries focus on Pennywise the Dancing Clown, a demon that rises every 27 years to feast on the children of Derry, Maine. He clearly has a long history with the ill-fated town, and considering how well the IT franchise has been going, there seems to be ample opportunity to continue the story through spin-offs. But IT director Andy Muschietti recently shut down that possibility, saying: “It’s always exciting to think of eventually exploring this mythology. It’s very exciting. But, for now, there’s nothing on the table.”
Well, that seems pretty cut and dry. Despite how IT: Chapter Two will likely do in theaters (after all, the first one made bank), Andy Muschietti has no plans to continue the franchise after the sequel is finally released. At least, besides the possible super cut of both movies.
Andy Muschietti’s comments to io9 may be shocking, considering just how successful his IT movies have already become. The 2017 horror flick was a critical darling and made a whopping $700.4 million during its box office run. This was a massive profit on the film’s $35 million budget. Clearly the movie was able to appear to a broad audience, rather than simply horror buffs. And this excitement and appeal should hopefully result in even more money for the highly anticipated sequel.
The movie business is ultimately about making money, so it would stand to reason if Warner Bros. wanted to continue cashing in with more possible IT movies. And while the Losers’ club story will end with Chapter Two, Pennywise has had a long history in Derry, presumably with countless victims who suddenly went missing after the demon hunted down and devoured them.
Later in that same conversation, director Andy Muschietti addressed the villain’s long history with the town and how that could seemingly make room for additional stories. He said:
Mythology is something that always has opportunities to explore. It has been on Earth for millions of years. He’s been in contact with humans for hundreds of years, every 27 years. So you can imagine the amount of material.
It seems that the director of the IT movies understands how future movies could be made, but has denied any plans for those to come to fruition– at least without Andy Muschietti involved.
This makes sense, given that Muschietti has already revealed that he plans to take a break from film-making after the release of IT: Chapter Two. His pair of horror movies has made him a household name, but he’s also been working on them for a number of years. So instead of jumping right into another project, he’s going to take a breather before eventually beginning development for DC’s Flash movie.
IT: Chapter Two will arrive in theaters on September 6, 2019.
