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Everything you need to know about the It remake

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

From Digital Spy

If you weren't scared of clowns before, let's agree: you are now.

The new adaptation of Stephen King's scariest novel has been in the works for some time, with various different actors and directors attached but now, finally, the first trailer has arrived giving us a proper look at Pennywise The Dancing Clown, The Losers Club, Derry, Maine and just what sort of scares are in store.

Here are all the clips, pictures, facts and rumours we can get out creepy clown fingers on. We'll be updating it as news breaks so pop back for all the gruesome goodies and everything you need to know about It.

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

It 2017 trailer: if you go down to the sewers today...

The first trailer for It arrived to all kinds of buzz. Until then we'd only been treated to a handful of images and not much else.

But this delicious vignette gives us a sense of what the movie is going to be like. Kicking off with little Georgie Denbrough sailing his paper boat in the rainy gutter it stays very true to the book and the miniseries, though later on, we see some of the differences.

First we noticed how much this looks like Stranger Things interesting since the creators of Stranger Things Matt and Ross Duffer wanted to adapt It, and have said their showwas influenced by the book and the '90s It mini-series.

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

We also loved the scene where Pennywise takes over the gang's projector and morphs himself into an image of Bill and Georgie's family. Brrr.

Seems like the world is totally up for a new It movie too. The trailer broke records getting almost 200 million views in one day.

You know who doesn't like scary clowns though? Actual clowns.

It 2017 release date: fear in the fall

The film is due for release on September 8. At the moment September is a pretty clear month, so It isn't up against anything significant at all. At the very end we have the Flatliners sequel and Kingsman: The Golden Circle landing, but the start of the month is clear.

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

However, with it so late in the year, we might have expected the movie to get a release closer to Halloween. Perhaps this is a move to distance it from being a straight horror film? Would certainly make sense if it's the Stranger Things/nostalgia/freaky fantasy audience it's after.

It 2017 plot: friends, fiends and a trip to the sewers

Assuming it deals only with the kids-focused part of the story (more on that later), the events of It will kick off with the disappearance of Georgie Denbrough. We see in the trailer little Georgie and his sailboat and his first encounter with Pennywise – it's sort of safe to say it doesn't go so well for Georgie.

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

Disappearances in the town of Derry, Maine, are becoming more frequent and now a group of misfits and bullied outcasts who call themselves 'The Losers Club' are glimpsing some strange things around town including hallucinations, red balloons, and sightings of a certain deeply creepy clown.

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

They may not be strong, they may not feel brave, they may have variously troubling home lives, but they have each other. It's a dark, scary, coming of age tale about friendship, the power of the imagination and standing tall even when you're not.

It 2017 cast: who's in the club and who's clowning around?

Back when True Detective director Cary Fukunaga was attached to the project, Will Poulter was down to play Pennywise. But when Fukunaga departed, so did Poulter.

Photo credit: Entertainment Weekly / New Line Cinema
Photo credit: Entertainment Weekly / New Line Cinema

Now underneath the white face paint and the crazy hair do is Bill Skarsgård – brother of True Blood and Big Little Lies star Alexander and son of Thor star Stellan. Bill's best know as Roman in Hemlock Grove, but this could push him into the mainstream.

Trying to defeat the creepy shapeshifter are the members of The Losers Club. These are Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard who plays Richie Tozier, Midnight Special star Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough, Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben Hanscombe, Sophia Lillis as Beverley Marsh, Wyatt Olef as Stan Uris, Chosen Jacobs as Mike Hanlon and Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie Kasbrak.

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

They'll be joined by renowned creature actor Javier Botet (you've seen him in things like [Rec] and Mama) and he'll be playing The Leper, one of the forms that Pennywise takes to really screw up the kids.

It 2017 director: He's a Mama's boy

Cary Fukunaga was attached for several years (2009-2015) but dropped out weeks before filming was due to start, citing creative differences with the studio.

After Fukunaga's departure, Andres Muschietti came on board. Muschietti is an Argentinian director who came into the public eye first of all with his deeply creepy short Mama, produced by his sister Barbara.

The short was made into a very successful feature of the same name, starring Jessica Chastain and championed by Guillermo del Toro at release (we thought it was a bit disjointed and not as good as the short, but still...).

Muschietti worked with Gary Dauberman on updating the script that Fukunaga had developed.

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

It 2017 sequel: two parts or one?

Fukunaga's original plan was to separate the film into two parts, the first focusing on the kids, the second on the adults returning to Derry 27 years after the first, when the evil has resurfaced.

When Muschietti came on board everything went a bit quiet on that front. That was until Stephen King popped up on social media to assure people that the movie is good – and that it's just part one.

In support of this is the fact that the trailer deals with just the one era and that none of the grown-up cast has been announced. Though some of the kids are relatively unknown, if the movie does get a second part we'd expect some reasonably well-known names in the major roles.

It sounds like the fate of the second part of It rests on the success of the first. Talking to Collider, producer Dan Lin said: "Naturally, that's the plan. If you look at the book, it's the part of the book that we have not yet explored.

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

"The book, we really broke down into two parts. The first part is this movie and if audiences react to this movie in the way we hope they will and I think they will, then we'll be to tell the adult story as well."

Looking good. Though you know who isn't a fan of It and the trailer? Actual clowns, that's who. Children's entertainers have spoken out about the bad rep they get, due to It, according to them.

"No-one sticks up for a clown," says Guilford Adams, who performs as a clown under the stage name 'Gilly'. "The only thing cooler to dislike is a mime."

King's having the last word though:

"The clowns are pissed at me," he writes. " Sorry, most are great. BUT...kids have always been scared of clowns. Don't kill the messengers for the message."


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