8 Things IT Chapter 2 Must Do To Succeed
7. Stick To A September Release Window
On its opening weekend, Chapter One made over $123 million domestically - a staggering figure that blew away projections of $50 - $80 million and became the third-highest opening weekend gross of the year, beating out the likes of Spider-Man: Homecoming and Wonder Woman.
The movie is a phenomenon - nobody saw it coming, and the reason for this success is, mostly, the release date Warner Bros set for it. Having it open in September with basically no competition (especially after a surprisingly quiet August), was a genius move, and one that Chapter Two should replicate.
Because, make no mistake, if Chapter One had opened in May, June or July - i.e. a prime summer date - it would have made an amount closer to the above projections. If it opened this coming October, November or December and was surrounded by Thor: Ragnarok, Justice League, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Jumanji and Coco, the same would be true.
There's a possibility that, after seeing how popular Chapter One has become, Warner Bros choose to place the sequel in one of these more crowded months - but that would be a mistake.
Chapter One is getting all this attention, praise and money because there's nothing else out right now that's worth talking about, and the September release date turned what could have been 'just another summer movie' into a cultural event.