It shatters box office records with biggest horror movie opening ever

The Stephen King adaptation has completely surpassed expectations

The box office's summer drought is finally over.

It managed to completely surpass expectations and smash records with a staggering $117.2 million box office opening, Variety reports, making it the third-largest opening weekend of the year, about even with Spider-Man: Homecoming's own $117 million.

With only Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 earning more, it's something of a landmark moment for both horror and R-rated cinema, areas which Hollywood has long been hesitant in investing in with major studio budgets. It, for example, had an estimated budget of only $35 million.

In fact, It enjoyed the biggest opening weekend ever for a horror film, and only came second to Deadpool's $132.4 million opening when it came to R-rated films.

A sigh of relief, certainly, after the US box office suffered the worst summer in a decade and failed to cross the $4 billion mark; it's likely things will only continue to pick up with the likes of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Thor: Ragnarok, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi all left on the 2017 slate.

Directed by Andy Muschietti, the film sees Bill Skarsgård play Pennywise the Clown, the ancient, evil force of Stephen King's original novel who stalks the children of Derry and terrorises them with their own greatest fears.

It is out in UK cinemas now.

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