It Chapter 2 Trailer

NEWS: IT is sinking

A film production of Stephen King's epic novel, IT
-- True scares
-- Theaters
-- Big budget
-- Tight editing
-- Not television!

. . . is it too good to be true?  Maybe.

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that New Line Cinema has indefinitely cut production on IT. EW says that director Cary Fukunaga reps say that he has left the project.

I've grown leery of remakes in recent days.  In fact, I opted not to see Poltergeist this weekend because reviews were -- it's just not scary.  Bu IT wasn't just another remake; it truly was a re envisioning of the Novel.  The previous work had been for television; a worthy effort, but Pennywise has always belonged more on the big screen.

So of all the Stephen King projects that I was really excited about coming to the big screen, I was excited about this one.  And the Dark Tower.  While the novel is slowly dating itself, the movie promised to bring an update to the story.  

IT movie to start filming in March 2015

vulture.com has posted an article that says they spoke with IT project producer Dan Lin, who confirmed that IT is getting serious.

Lin told vulture, “The idea is to start official prep in March for a summer shoot.  Cary likes to develop things for a while, and we’ve been with this for about three or four years, so we’re super excited that he stayed with it. You guys are gonna be really excited.”

The current plan, according to Lin, is to break the movie into two parts, much the way the ABC miniseries handled the King book in its 1990 adaptation.

“The book is so epic that we couldn't tell it all in one movie and service the characters with enough depth,” explained Lin; the first film, then, will be a coming-of-age story about the children tormented by It, while the second will skip ahead in time as those same characters band together to continue the fight as adults. Though Fukunaga is only committed to directing the first film, Lin says the in-demand helmer is currently closing a deal to co-write the second.

Lin went on to say that what was really important to them was Stephen King's "blessing."  What did King say after the script was sent to him?  "Go with God, please! This is the version the studio should make."

The idea of two IT movies is good news to me, since the book is so large.  The story could hardly be told in 2 or 3 hours.  I do hope they don't mess with the dates, though.

KPOPSTARZ: IT movie slated for 2015

kpopstarz.com headlines that it has confirmed that the IT movie is confirmed for 2015.  Written and directed by Cary Fukunaga together with Chase Palmer who'll be co-writing the screenplay.

The article says that the movie adapation will be "revamped based on two-part series."  The article repeats that format note at the end, stating, "Warner Bros. earned the rights in 2009 where the original plan is to remake the film into a single movie but has now change into a two-part series following the story of the original TV series from ABC."

This seems a bit strange to me, since IT is a single story.  Can it be broken theatrically into two parts?  We'll see.  In many ways it's good news, since the book is very big and would struggle work as a single film.  (Producers of The Stand should take note)

Cary Fukunaga Still Adapting Stephen King’s ‘IT’

According to Screen Rant, Cary Fukunaga is still on board to adapt Stephen King's IT.  Sandy Schaefer notes that Stephen King is hot stuff these  says, with both Haven and Under The Dome hitting the small screen, and Pet Sematary, The Stand and Cell movie adaptations all finishing up casting.  

But what about IT?  Schaefer writes: 

Producer Dan Lin (Sherlock Holmes) added a new hit intellectual property to his belt this past weekend when The LEGO Movie opened big at the box office, and while promoting the animated feature/toy adaptation, he provided Collider (hat tip STYD) with an update on Fukunaga’s prospective IT adaptation:

“… Cary Fukunaga is writing and directing Stephen King’s It for me, and I’m really excited for that.  So I’m hoping that’ll be his next movie after the indie he’s shooting in Africa.  So I love what he did with True Detective.  I think it’s a great sample for Stephen King’s It.  So I’m really excited about that.”

Schaefer concludes, "an IT movie by Fukunaga sounds all the more promising now, perhaps even more so if it were to be split up into two separate movies."

Full article is at screenrant.com

wouldn't IT be cool if

Photo credit HERE
Georgie McNuggets anyone?

With news of a new IT movie coming out -- in two installments -- I  decided to offer up some of my thoughts.  I offer these for free (FREE) to Hollywood.  You're so welcome!

1. There is no need to remake the entire IT movie.  IT was made as a mini-series, and half of it is pretty good!  How about this. . . just re-film the parts with the adults.  

2. There is no need to re-script the novel, the mini-series script did it justice.  It was special effects and some acting that made it. . . well, a little lame.  Not big time lame, no sir!  But just a little. . . not as cool as it could have been.  Can you use an old script?  I mean, why not?  It was actually pretty faithful to the book, and worked through some of the problems in an acceptable way.

3. Could we please have Tim Curry again?  Don't care if he's old now and has to do this with a cane -- he was awesome.  The scariest clown ever.

4. Don't forget 11.22.63.  Woldn't it be cool if the scene in 11.22.63, where Jack meets Bev and Richie, appeared in the IT movie?  I mean, that wold be beyond coolified.

5. Please keep  the years right!  There was talk of moving the past scenes up to the 80's, and then the scenes where  they are adults up to the present.  RESIST!  The stuff from the 50's was so cool!  

IT to be two movies

photo credit: HERE

Variety reports that the new theatrical version of IT has been making some progress. (Article is HERE)  Warner Brothers has selected Cary Fukunaga and co-write the script with Chase Palmer.  Palmer did the new adaptation of DUNE.

Variety also makes it clear  that Warner Brothers sees this as an important project, writing:

A quarter of Warner-based producers -- Roy Lee, Dan Lin and the team of Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg via their Katz-Smith banner -- are producing the long-in-development project.

The article notes that the book bounces between 1958 and 1985.  Of course, there was earlier talk of moving the action up to the 80's and current -- thus cutting the 50's out.  I hope they stay true to the book on this one!

Kevin Jagernauth writes at The Playlist:

before he gets to telling the tale of about a bunch of bullied kids, a shape-shifting demon clown, and what they have to face 30 years later, Fukunaga will first knock out his exciting HBO series "True Detective" with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. We're big fans of Fukunaga, and moreso because, like many of our favorite directors, he's curious about doing things he's never tried before. Fukunaga's take on a King horror story? Yep, we'd love to see it.