10 Movies That Changed Everything In Ways You Didn't Expect
8. The Clown Entertainer Industry Was Crippled - It
Beyond becoming the highest-grossing horror film of all time, 2017's It had a tectonic impact on one of the world's oldest industries: clowning. Yup.
Though Stephen King's original 1986 novel helped popularise the notion of clowns as evil, distrustful figures, around the time of the 2017 movie's release, the World Clown Association reported that many of its members had suffered a major downturn in business, with many opting to cancel their bookings.
The WCA blamed the publicity and mindshare surrounding the new It movie, even as King himself retorted, "Kids have always been scared of clowns."
The movie may well have simply been the tipping point for an industry already on the verge of collapse - the "epidemic" of scary clowns being sighted throughout numerous countries in 2016 certainly didn't help, and is rumoured to have played a role in McDonald's quietly phasing out the Ronald McDonald mascot character.
Worse still, following It's release, children reported preferring to see Disney characters - such as those from Frozen and the Marvel Cinematic Universe - at their parties rather than clowns.
Though the clown industry wasn't exactly healthy prior to It's release, the movie was likely the straw that broke the camel's back where public perception was concerned. It's dead, Jim.