IT: Chapter Two

IT: Chapter Two
Directed by	Andrés Muschietti
Produced by	Seth Grahame-Smith, David Katzenberg, Roy Lee, Dan Lin and Barbara Muschietti
Screenplay by	Gary Dauberman and Jeffrey Jurgensen
Based on	IT by Stephen King
Release dates	September 6, 2019
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Country	United States

IT: Chapter Two is an American supernatural horror film and the sequel to the 2017 film IT: Chapter One. Both films are based on the 1986 novel IT by Stephen King. Like its predecessor, Chapter Two was one of four Stephen King films released in 2019. It was rated Restricted-16 for its graphic violence, offensive language and cruelty, not because of its horror.

About

The sequel is an adaptation of the second half of the novel and is directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Gary Dauberman. The film is set in 2016, 27 years after the events of the first film, and stars Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, along with James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, and Andy Bean, who portray the adult versions of The Losers' Club, while Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Wyatt Oleff return from the first film as the younger "Losers".

Background

Talks for an IT sequel began in February 2016, when Muschietti revealed the plan to get production underway. By September 2017, New Line Cinema announced that the sequel would be released in September 2019, with Dauberman writing the script, and Muschietti expected to direct the film. Filming began on June 19, 2018, at Pinewood Toronto Studios and on locations in and around Port Hope, Oshawa, and Toronto, Ontario, and wrapped on October 31, 2018. The film was released theatrically in North America on September 6, 2019.

Plot

In 2016, Adrian Mellon, a young gay man, visits the local carnival in Derry, Maine, with his boyfriend Don Hagarty. A youth gang, lead by John "Webby" Garton, shouts homophobic slurs at them, causing Adrian (who talks back to Webby) and Don to leave the carnival. Both are ambushed by the gang and severely beaten, and Adrian is thrown off the bridge into the water below. In the riverbank, he notices Pennywise offering him help. Don catches up to Adrian, but he witnesses Pennywise bite and removes Adrian's heart. Mike Hanlon, the only member of the Losers' Club who stayed in Derry, overhears the incident on a police scanner and rushes to the scene. Upon realizing that It has resurfaced, making such clear by painting "COME HOME" on the bridge wall in Adrian's blood, Mike resolves to call his friends back to Derry.

The remaining Losers, now in their early-forties, have long-since left Derry and forgotten much of their childhood memories, becoming very successful adults. Bill Denbrough is a successful author and screenwriter, but often gets criticized for his stories' endings. Beverly Marsh lives as a fashion designer but endures an abusive relationship with her husband, Tom Rogan. Ben Hanscom has lost weight and is a successful architect, but is also lonely. Richie Tozier has become a famous stand-up comedian. Edward "Eddie" Kaspbrak is a risk assessor, with an overbearing wife much like his mother, and Stanley Uris is a partner in a large accounting firm. When Mike calls them, they are all immediately disturbed by a sudden swell of fear and the return of their childhood hand scars, but reluctantly agree to return to Derry. All for Stanley, who, as a result of recalling more than any of his friends (sans Mike), commits suicide.

During this time, a flashback occurs to show Henry Bowers escaping the sewers, however, upon arriving back at home, he is arrested for the murder of his father. Back in the present, Henry is in a psych ward and is being followed around by a Red Balloon, symbolizing It's presence. Henry escapes and is on the move to murder the members of the Losers' Club.

The remaining members of the Losers' meet at Jade of the Orient, a local Chinese restaurant, taking great joy in being mostly reunited and gradually remembering their childhood experiences, though none initially remember Pennywise. After Mike reveals the reason why he asked them to return, they begin to open fortune cookies, finding a cryptic phrase that reads "Guess Stanley Could Not Cut It". Soon after, the remaining fortune cookies begin opening, revealing disturbing monstrosities inside including a spider with a baby's head, a one-winged bat, and an unborn bird covered in blood. On their way out of the restaurant, the losers come across a young boy named Dean. Dean greets Richie and quotes one of his lines. Richie, unfortunately, thinks Dean is It and grabs him by his arm and screams at him telling him he is not afraid. Dean stares in confusion and is ushered away by his parents.

Richie and Eddie accuse Mike of lying and upon learning that Stan is actually dead, try to leave, going back to the inn. Ben notices Beverly knows more about what is going on than the others and follows her back to the inn, leaving only Mike and Bill. While Bill does not accuse Mike of lying, he is a bit testy with him for not disclosing the truth immediately. After some prodding, Bill comes with Mike back to his loft in the town library, where he drugs Bill's water with special properties that help Mike explain what he has learned over the years, including the history of Derry and the origin of Pennywise. He also reveals that he has learned the latter from a Native American tribe, who also showed him the Ritual of Chüd; a supposed way of destroying It once and for all. Regaining his childhood resolve, Bill agrees to stay and finish Pennywise alongside his friends, taking back command at Mike's insistence.

At the hotel inn, Ben, Richie, and Eddie learn that Beverly has seen each of them die just as Bill and Mike arrive. They realize that Beverly being trapped in the deadlights as a child is what led her to have visions of them and other horrors. While Richie recommends they all just leave town and return later to fight Pennywise, Beverly and Mike tell him and the others that departing is not optional, as their past experiences with It has put them under a curse and "infected" them, which is why Stanley, the weakest of them, died and that they will share his fate if they do not fulfill their blood oath.

Mike first guides his friends across town to have them remember the town in full before they stop at their old clubhouse. There, Mike says that in order for the ritual to work, each Loser must have an artifact from their past to place in the ancient pottery; being in the clubhouse to locate Stanley's (a shower cap) due to his death. When told that they must find the artifacts on their own, Richie and Eddie insist otherwise for survival reasons until Bill reminds them of their fractured friendship during that summer; leading them to go their separate ways for a bit and therefore leaving out a chunk of their memories.

Beverly goes to her old home and finds a pack of cigarettes she hid as a child, in addition to Ben's love letter. Beverly encounters It disguised as an old lady named Mrs. Kersh. Pennywise attacks Beverly until she escapes but not before he taunts her by telling her that her visions mean nothing, as she will never be able to save her friends or anyone.

Bill purchases his old bike "Silver" from a pawn shop and goes to the sewer drain where Georgie was killed, flashing back to when he was a child asking Pennywise why It killed his brother. It tauntingly tells him that it was because he was not there to protect him. He recovers his paper boat after an encounter with Pennywise, voicing his hatred for the entity. Seeing Dean again, Bill learns that the young boy lives in his childhood home and that he often hears voices in the shower drains. Bill grabs the youngster and yells at Dean to leave Derry and never come back. This causes Dean to ride away on his skateboard freaked out.

Ben goes to the town's high school and finds his old yearbook page, which Beverly was the only person to sign, briefly recalling an experience to when Pennywise taunted and chased him through the school in the form of Beverly while insulting his weight and loneliness.

Eddie goes to a pharmacy and recovers an inhaler, recalling a childhood incident where he sees his mother being tied up and viciously assaulted by the Leper in the basement. He encounters the Leper again and manages to actually get the upper hand until it vomits on him, driving him to hysterically run out of the pharmacy.

Richie goes to an abandoned arcade where he finds an old game token, which he remembers a bad memory of him being taunted for his sexuality before being attacked by Pennywise and a giant Paul Bunyan statue. He is taunted by Pennywise in a similar way before he runs away, intent on leaving town regardless of the curse.

As Eddie arrives home from the pharmacy, he is stabbed in the cheek by Henry Bowers. Eddie removes the knife and fights Henry, but he escapes before Ben and Beverly can catch him. Bill finds a message from Pennywise reading "Won't be there for him either" and realizes that Pennywise is going after Dean at the carnival. Bill arrives and chases Dean into a hall of mirrors, but is too late, as he watches Pennywise break through the glass and violently devour Dean, much to Bill's horror.

Richie is close to leaving town, but ultimately changes his mind when he recalls attending Stan's bar mitzvah and the empowering speech he gave, returning in time to save Mike from Henry by killing him. Ben, Eddie, and Beverly arrive as well, each wondering where Bill is.

Bill, traumatized by his failure to save both Georgie and Dean and expressing his regret for leading them to fight Pennywise in the first place (thus leading to them being cursed), returns to Neibolt to murder It himself, ordering Mike and the others to stay away for fear of getting them killed.

Nonetheless, the rest of the Losers follow Bill to the abandoned Neibolt house, assuring him that they are stronger together. Inside, the group is split up by Pennywise who takes the form of young Stanley's disembodied head to taunt the Losers Club, as well as a daunting message carved onto Ben's stomach, reading "home at last". After dealing with the threats, Bill yells at Eddie for his cowardice and almost getting Richie killed for it, but quickly forgives him when he realizes that it is what their enemy wants.

The group ventures into the sewers and make their way into a chasm where Mike sets up the steps necessary for the Ritual of Chüd, including burning the artifacts they gathered from their old memories. For Mike, it was the first stone thrown at their rock fight with the Bowers Gang, the day they rescued him from Henry, whose blood was on the stone.

Mike instructs the others to chant a phrase, during which It's "deadlights" appear and make their way into the pottery. The ritual appeared to be a success, but a red balloon grows under the lid and out from the pottery, getting larger in size until it pops, revealing a giant version of It with spider-like legs and blades on the ends of them. Pennywise pressures Mike into telling the losers that the Native Americans who originally performed the ritual were killed as it did not work. Mike tells his friends that he genuinely believed that the tribe only failed because they didn't truly believe It could be killed, shattering his faith in their success and resigning himself to be killed while apologizing to his friends. 

Pennywise attempts to kill Mike first, but Bill and Ben grab him and attempt to make a run for it. They are unsuccessful, as Pennywise thrusts them (sans Mike, who is hiding) into nightmarish scenarios in which they are forced to escape from, resembling childhood memories from old places in Derry they spent time in.

Bill is forced to confront the fact that he pretended to be sick on the day of Georgie's death, inadvertently causing it. Beverly is tossed into bathroom stall filled with blood, repeatedly being taunted and insulted by manifestations of her husband and Greta as well as others. Ben is being buried alive in the clubhouse, being taunted by Pennywise that despite everything he accomplished in life, he is still just an overweight boy destined to be alone for the rest of his life. Richie and Eddie are forced to look for a way out via three doors titled "Scary", "Very Scary", and "Not Scary at all".

Eventually, Bill beats his nightmare by forgiving himself while Beverly finally realizes it was Ben who wrote her the love letter years ago, enabling her to work with him to break out of their nightmares together.

Richie and Eddie run from the doors and while Eddie trails behind, Richie notices that Pennywise is again about to kill a disheartened Mike. Richie saves Mike by tossing rocks at Pennywise and insulting It until he is caught by the deadlights. Eddie overcomes his fear and deals a serious blow to It, saving Richie. In his excitement, however, he is fatally impaled and tortured by Pennywise, much to the horror of his friends.

The Losers regroup around the dying Eddie and, upon learning of the latter's experience with It in the Pharmacy, Mike and Beverly realize It can be killed if they make him small enough for them to destroy him. Initially intending to squeeze through a hole, being cornered by It forces them to rethink their plan and instead decide to make Pennywise feel smaller by insulting It. The friends do so, causing It to physically grow smaller and weaker, regressing into a small, harmless clown-like creature. Mike tears out It's heart and as It weakly laughs that his enemies are no longer children, finally dies when they crush his heart together, ultimately avenging all of It's victims.

Eddie himself dies from his injuries and Richie refuses to accept this. As a result of It's demise, the cave, and by extension the Neibolt House, begins to disintegrate around them. The remaining Losers are forced to remove Richie and reluctantly leave Eddie's body behind, barely making it back outside before the house is completely destroyed. They return to the quarry where they once swam together and console Richie over Eddie's passing while Beverly and Ben finally share a kiss. Walking through town together, the five friends notice that the scars on their hands have disappeared, thus lifting their curse. They share a flashback to the aftermath of their first victory against It as children.

Sometime later, Bill begins to write a new book when he is called by Mike, both men discussing how they can now remember what they couldn't years ago due to their will to remember the good times and because It is no longer an influence on Derry. Bill is told by Mike about a letter from Stan that he wrote to every member of the Losers' Club before his death, explaining why he did it. Stanley committed suicide to "take himself off of the board”, knowing that he was far too terrified to return and would therefore hold them back while telling them to live life to the fullest. Meanwhile, Ben and Beverly start a romantic relationship and Richie returns to the bridge where he had once carved the initials of him and another person, now revealed to be Eddie. Richie re-carves them before leaving. Having spent his entire life in Derry and no longer having a reason to stay now that It is dead, Mike moves away to start a new life, ending the film.

Cast

The Losers' Club

• James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough
  • Jaeden Martell as Young Bill Denbrough
• Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh
  • Sophia Lillis as Young Beverly Marsh
• Jay Ryan as Ben Hanscom
  • Jeremy Ray Taylor as Young Ben Hanscom
• Bill Hader as Richie Tozier
  • Finn Wolfhard as Young Richie Tozier
• Isaiah Mustafa as Mike Hanlon
  • Chosen Jacobs as Young Mike Hanlon
• James Ransone as Eddie Kaspbrak
  • Jack Dylan Grazer as Young Eddie Kaspbrak
  • Johnathan Sturgess as Younger Mike Hanlon]
• Andy Bean as Stan Uris
  • Wyatt Oleff as Young Stan Uris

Forms of IT

• Bill Skarsgård as IT / Mr. Robert "Bob" Gray / Pennywise the Dancing Clown
• Jackson Robert Scott as Dead Georgie Denbrough
• Joan Gregson as Mrs. Kersh
• Javier Botet as Hobo/Leper/Witch

Other characters

• Teach Grant as Henry Bowers
  • Nicholas Hamilton as Young Henry Bowers
• Jess Weixler as Audra Phillips
• Will Beinbrink as Tom Rogan
• Xavier Dolan as Adrian Mellon
• Taylor Frey as Don Hagarty
• Jake Weary as John "Webby" Garton
• Josh Madryga as Steve Dubay 
• Katie Lunman  as Christopher Unwin and Betty Ripsom
• Erik Junnola as Scuuzzah
• Josh Madryga as Scuuzzah
• Molly Atkinson as Sonia Kaspbrak and Myra Kaspbrak
• Stephen Bogaert as Alvin Marsh
• Martha Girvin as Patricia "Patty" Uris
• Juno Rinaldi as Greta Keene
  • Megan Charpentier as young Greta Keene
• Joe Bostick as Mr. Keene
• Owen Teague as Patrick Hockstetter
• Jake Sim as Reginald "Belch" Huggins
• Logan Thompson as Victor "Vic" Criss
• Luke Roessler as Dean
• Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Victoria Fuller

Production

Development

On February 16, 2016, producer Roy Lee, in an interview with Collider, mentioned a second film, remarking, "[Dauberman] wrote the most recent draft working with [Muschietti], so it's being envisioned as two movies". On July 19, 2017, Muschietti revealed that the plan is to get production underway for the sequel to It next spring, adding, "We'll probably have a script for the second part in January [2018]. Ideally, we would start prep in March. Part one is only about the kids. Part two is about these characters 27 years later as adults, with flashbacks to 1989 when they were kids."

On July 21, 2017, Muschietti spoke of looking forward to having a dialogue in the second film that does not exist within the first, stating, "... it seems like we're going to do it. It's the second half, it's not a sequel. It's the second half and it's very connected to the first one." Muschietti confirmed that two cut scenes from the first film will hopefully be included in the second, one of which being the fire at the Black Spot from the book.

Pre-production

On September 25, 2017. New Line Cinema announced that the sequel would be released on September 6, 2019, with Gary Dauberman and Jeffrey Jurgensen writing the script. Andy Muschietti was also expected to return to direct the sequel. Filming Principal photography on the film began on June 19, 2018, at Pinewood Toronto Studios and on locations in and around Port Hope, Oshawa and Toronto, Ontario, and wrapped on October 30, 2018.

Post-production

The visual effects were provided by Method Studios, Supervised by Josh Simmonds and Nicholas Brooks as the Production Supervisor with help from Atomic Arts, Cubica, Lola VFX, Make VFX, Rodeo FX and Soho VFX.

Box Office

The film grossed 472,100,000 worldwide; $211,600,000 million in the United States and Canada, and $260,500,000 million in other territories. It was released for home media ,in North America, on December 19, 2019.

Gallery

Photos

• Title card

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Videos

IT CHAPTER TWO - Official Teaser Trailer HD

IT CHAPTER TWO - Final Trailer HD