The 1990 miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's novel IT ran for 3+ hours, but Andy Muschietti‘s two-film adaptation of the novel is surprisingly going to be a much longer affair when all is said and done! Chapter One, released back in 2017, ran for 2 hours and 15 minutes, and Muschietti confirmed reports over the weekend that IT: Chapter Two is an even longer conclusion to the story.
If you watched both films back-to-back, you'd be in the town of Derry, Maine a total of five hours!
"At the beginning, when you’re writing and building the beats of the story, everything that you put in there seems very essential to the story. However, when you have the movie finally edited and it’s 4 hours long, you realize that some of the events and some of the beats can be easily lifted but the essence of the story remains intact," Muschietti told Digital Spy.
He continued, "You cannot deliver a 4-hour movie because people will start to feel uncomfortable – no matter what they see – but we ended up having a movie that is 2 hours and 45 minutes, and the pacing is very good. Nobody who’s seen the movie has had any complaint."
If the movie delivers the same thrills as the first, and I'm sure it will, I have no issue with sitting in a theater for nearly 3 hours. Hell, I've already sat through Avengers: Endgame and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood this year and thoroughly enjoyed my viewing experience with both.
"Because every 27 years evil revisits the town of Derry, Maine, IT: Chapter Two brings the characters—who’ve long since gone their separate ways—back together as adults, nearly three decades after the events of the first film."
Bill Skarsgård returns in the seminal role of Pennywise. James McAvoy (Split, Glass) stars as Bill, Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty, Mama) as Beverly, Bill Hader (HBO’s "Barry", The Skeleton Twins) as Richie, Isaiah Mustafa (TV’s "Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments") as Mike, Jay Ryan (TV’s "Mary Kills People") as Ben, James Ransone (HBO’s "The Wire") as Eddie, and Andy Bean (Allegiant, Starz’ "Power") as Stanley.
Reprising their roles as the original members of the Losers Club are Jaeden Lieberher as Bill, Wyatt Oleff as Stanley, Sophia Lillis as Beverly, Finn Wolfhard as Richie, Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben, Chosen Jacobs as Mike, and Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie.
Directed by Muschietti from a screenplay by Gary Dauberman (based on Stephen King's novel of the same name), New Line Cinema's IT: Chapter Two is slated for a September 6th theatrical release from Warner Bros.
