‘It’ Stalks $103 Million Opening as Box Office Gets Frightful Boost Despite Irma

Pennywise may be the terror of Maine, but he’s the hero of the box office, rescuing it from two weeks’ worth of record lows with an estimated opening weekend of $103 million from 4,103 screens, beating even the high projections set by independent trackers. 

At the start of the week, projections for “It” were set at $60-65 million, but quickly jumped to $80-85 million after the film earned critical praise and an 88 percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The strong marketing from Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema has culminated in a huge turnout from “It,” and the R-rated horror film will likely become the fifth film of 2017 with a $100 million-plus opening despite losing hundreds of theaters due to closures forced by Hurricane Irma, which the studio estimated to account for a revenue loss of about 5 percent.