Stephen King On New Line’s It Reboot: “I Was Not Prepared For How Good It Was”

It’s been a whirlwind year for Stephen King, what with the back-to-back adaptations of The Dark Tower and It.

King actually held an executive producer role on the former project, and we all know how that turned out. That’s not to say that the legendary horror author was solely responsible for The Dark Tower‘s failings – far from it – merely that Sony’s big-screen rendition of the genre-bending classic struggled to resonate much with moviegoers regardless of whether they considered themselves King fans or not.

With It, New Line and Andy Muschietti’s horror reboot is a totally different beast, but the fact that Stephen King wasn’t actively involved in the film’s creation did raise some cause for concern. However that may be, if you’re worried that Muschietti’s thrill ride is about to repeat the sins of The Dark Tower, don’t; King has now gone on record to deliver his own verdict of It. And spoilers: it’s overly positive.

Per Bloody Disgusting:

I had hopes, but I was not prepared for how good it really was. It’s something that’s different, and at the same time, it’s something that audiences are gonna relate to. They’re gonna like the characters. To me, it’s all about character. If you like the characters… if you care… the scares generally work.

I’m sure my fans will enjoy the movie. I think they’re gonna really enjoy the movie. And I think some of them will go back two or three times and actually savor the thing. I went back and saw it a second time, and I felt I was seeing things the second time through that I missed the first time.

The fact that Stephen King, an all-around horror maestro of popular culture, “was not prepared for how good it really was” is enough to leave our heads spinning. The author also drew attention to Bill Skarsgård’s performance as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, along with Muschietti’s work behind the lens.

Let’s just say I had strong hopes for the movie, because I knew Andy’s work from Mama, and I thought he was a really, really talented director. And I also loved the idea of concentrating on the kids’ half of the story. Skarsgard was great as Pennywise, and he’s got big shoes to fill. Let’s face it. Because people remember Tim Curry as Pennywise the Clown, and they remember the look that Pennywise had.

Hoping to birth the beginning of a two-part horror saga, It is due to haunt theaters on September 8th. Should those box office forecasts hold true – $50-60 million is the current estimate for opening weekend in North America – then New Line and Andy Muschietti will revisit the Losers as adults to banish Pennywise once and for all.