It (2017): A Fresh Look at the Pitch Meeting

Summary

2017's IT is considered the best adaptation of Stephen King's iconic novel, despite making changes to the story and removing controversial elements.

By dividing the narrative into two segments, the initial film delved deeper into the Loser Club's formative years, cultivating stronger connections between the characters and the audience. Alongside the skilled frights and well-chosen actors in the movie, minor alterations such as situating the childhood events in the '80s further facilitated the audience's acceptance of deviations from the original novel.

During the ongoing Halloween season, the newest installment of our website's Pitch Meeting series takes a retrospective look at its analysis of the movie IT. Released in 2017, this film was the second major adaptation of Stephen King's iconic novel from 1986, which revolves around a group of outcast teenagers and their later adult lives being tormented by a shapeshifting entity known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Directed by Andy Muschietti and featuring Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, the initial movie achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success, leading to the creation of It: Chapter Two. However, the sequel received mixed reviews and had a lower box office performance.

Now, after more than five years have passed since the movie's premiere, the latest episode of our website's Pitch Meeting series revisits the 2017 version of IT. In the original video, which can be seen at the beginning of this article, one of the main criticisms addressed was the film's omission of various elements from the book, resulting in poorly explained sequences. In this retrospective, host Ryan George reflects on some of the jokes made in the original episode, specifically highlighting a controversial moment from the book involving the Losers' Club engaging in an orgy after defeating Pennywise as teenagers.

Why 2017's IT Is Still The Best Adaptation (Despite Its Changes)

Tim Curry's miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's novel IT is beloved for his performance as Pennywise. However, the 2017 film version has been widely regarded as a superior translation. Instead of using flashbacks to switch between the Loser Club's childhood and adult years in Derry, director Muschietti and his creative team decided to split the story into two parts. The first film focused exclusively on the group's younger years, allowing the audience to better witness their bonding and explore their individual characters.

The scares in the movie and the effective casting also helped audiences accept the changes made from the original novel. These changes ranged from smaller elements like shifting the childhood years from the '50s to the '80s, to bigger modifications like removing the controversial orgy scene. This scene, already contentious when the novel was published, would have been shocking and inappropriate for modern audiences. The film did slightly flirt with potential sexualization of the teenage character Beverly, hinting at an abusive relationship with her father and rumors about her classmates, including the bully Henry Bowers.

The first IT film took some creative liberties with King's work, but Chapter Two aimed to reintroduce certain elements that were cut from the novel. This included the ancient turtle god Maturin and the Ritual of Chüd, which the group performs in an attempt to defeat Pennywise. These aspects contributed to the mixed reviews received by the sequel in 2019. Critics felt that the plot was overloaded, resulting in fewer scares compared to the successful first movie. However, Muschietti's first IT film still stands as one of the more highly-regarded adaptations of King's work.

Source: Pitch Meeting