Not yet a full month after its release, IT is still an unstoppable force at the box office. Horror movies tend to do pretty well for themselves, but IT in particular has a few more things going for it: a delightful cast of youngsters, a truly terrifying iteration of an iconic villain, and a ton of word-of-mouth buzz. Today, the movie has passed the $500 million mark worldwide, making it officially the highest-grossing horror movie of all time in all categories.

Just last week, IT was sitting pretty on top of The Exorcist’s domestic record, and now it’s surpassed that film’s worldwide gross as well: Variety reports that Warner Bros. announced on Thursday that IT has passed $500 million, taking it past The Exorcist’s worldwide record (a record it held for 44 years!) of $441 million. And IT hasn’t even opened yet in Germany, Italy, and Japan.

It hardly needs to be reiterated that this movie is a box office monster, swiftly becoming the highest-grossing September release of all time, the highest-grossing Stephen King adaptation, the best single-day opening for an R-rated movie, and then some. The sequel, IT: Chapter Two, already has a release date for September 2019, and one of the writers of the first movie is already working on the script. Hold on to your balloons: that scary clown will be back to haunt your nightmares before you know it.

IT is currently playing. IT: Chapter Two hits theaters September 6, 2019.

 

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