IT 2 has officially wrapped filming. The horror sequel is one of the most anticipated films of 2019, and director Andy Muschietti took to Instagram a day after the film’s first teaser poster was released to announce that production has wrapped on IT Chapter Two. The filmmaker, who also directed the first IT to a whopping $700 million worldwide and positive reviews, called production on the sequel a “roller coaster” ride, revealing that it lasted an epic 86 days. That’s not the kind of lengthy schedule one normally gets to make a horror film, but then again IT Chapter Two is not your traditional horror movie.
The first IT had been in development for quite a while before Muschietti became involved, and he took over for Cary Joji Fukunaga who still has a co-writer credit on the screenplay after that filmmaker left due to creative differences with the studio. But few could have predicted just how big of a hit IT would be, as the film scored the largest opening weekend for an R-rated movie ever, then continued to perform week after week.
The success of the first half of Muschietti’s Stephen King adaptation afforded him the luxury of not just a lengthy shooting schedule, but also an A-list ensemble. Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, and Bill Hader lead the cast of IT Chapter Two as the sequel picks up with the characters as adults 27 years later. While we don’t know too much about the follow-up just yet, IndieWire spoke with Hader last night, and the Emmy-winning actor revealed that IT 2 is surprisingly emotional:
“It’s really great. It’s very emotional. The cast is amazing… It’s really scary obviously, but I was surprised at how emotional it was. It’s really a story about these people and this kind of trauma that they all went through.”
That’s certainly an intriguing prospect, and while Muschietti now has a lengthy period of post-production ahead of him, the filmmaker is already looking ahead to ambitious future projects as he recently signed on to develop an Attack on Titan live-action film and a new adaptation of The Time Machine.
Check out Muschietti’s Instagram message and Hader’s video below. IT Chapter Two opens in theaters on September 6, 2019.
