12 Things That Almost Completely Changed 2017’s Biggest Movies

10. The 2015 Script Was Much, Much Darker - It

The Original Plan: Back when Cary Fukunaga was preparing to write and direct It in 2015, he envisioned a far less-faithful adaptation of Stephen King's classic horror novel.

Fukunaga's version had a much hasher tone, dialling back the bonding of the Losers Club and amping up the skin-crawling disgust of both Pennywise (then to be played by Will Poulter) and Derry's adult characters.

Some of the most infamous scenes from Fukunaga's script include a flashback where Pennywise meets Beverly's father Alvin as a child, but lets him live, knowing that he'll sexually molest his daughter in the future; and a sequence set in 1625, where a mother allows Pennywise to eat her child in exchange for her own life. Grim.

What Happened?: Fukunaga eventually departed the project amid creative differences with Warner Bros., leading to Andy Muschietti being hired to work from a significantly revised script, which stripped away the darker elements of Fukunaga's vision and made it more in line with a conventional horror movie.

Did It Work?: Surprisingly, yes. It is arguably one of the best studio horror movies released in the last decade, and though not plumbing the horrific depths of Fukunaga's script, it nevertheless made liberal use of its R-rating and fully realised the terrifying nature of King's novel.

Fukunaga's version may have ended up more interesting, but in terms of retaining the spirit of the source material and being palatable enough to general audiences, what we got was probably for the best.