Andy Muschietti‘s two “IT” films from 2017 and 2019 brought Stephen King‘s 1986 epic horror novel to the big screen for the first time. Now Muschietti will develop the franchise even further. Deadline reports that the director teams up with HBO Max, Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs for “Welcome To Derry,” an upcoming drama series that serves as a prequel to his films.

Continue reading ‘Welcome To Derry’: HBO Max Greenlights Prequel Series To Andy Muschietti’s ‘IT’ Films at The Playlist.

It’s Halloween week, and nobody embodies the committed costuming and eerie camp of the holiday quite like Tim Curry. 

This week on Be Reel, we celebrate and reappraise the British legend’s iconic games of dress-up: “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975), “Legend” (1985), and “It” (1990). We also make a brief return to “Clue” manor (1985). 

Continue reading A Very Tim Curry Halloween [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

Pennywise the Dancing Clown returned this weekend, and as expected, the final chapter of the “It” story dominated the first box office frame of the fall. In fact, the only real story to talk about this weekend is just how Andy Muschietti’s “It: Chapter Two” simultaneously destroyed the competition, but somehow still is a bit of a disappointment. So, let’s take a look at just how high the Losers’ Club floated this weekend, shall we?

Continue reading ‘It: Chapter Two’ Floats To The Top Of The Box Office But Is Well Below Pennywise’s 2017 Debut at The Playlist.

For a filmmaker as exciting and interesting as Cary Fukunaga, it’s hard to wrap your head around the fact that his filmography is fairly limited. It’s been almost 15 years since his debut film, and in that time he has one TV series credit and 3 other films. Not a crazy amount of productivity from the director. And he knows it.

Most notably, Fukunaga has had a 3-year gap between his last film, the Oscar-nominated “Beasts of No Nation,” and his upcoming Netflix TV series, “Maniac.” But that doesn’t mean the director has been resting on his laurels.

Continue reading Cary Fukunaga Says He Left “IT” Because The Studio Was Scared They Couldn’t “Control” Him at The Playlist.

The 2018 MTV Movie and TV Awards were handed out Monday night, er, Saturday night and then edited and aired Monday night for the world’s enjoyment.  Tiffany Haddish was an energetic host and took home the Best Comedic Performance Award, but the big winners were “Black Panther” and “Stranger Things” which won four and three statues respectively.

Other major winners included “It” which won Best Onscreen Team and “Gaga: Five Foot Two” which took the Best Music Documentary category.

Continue reading ‘Black Panther’ And ‘Stranger Things’ Dominate 2018 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Playlist.

MTV announced the nominees for the second  MTV Movie and TV Awards (formerly the MTV Movie Awards) and after combining the two genres for the first time a year ago there were some category changes this time around.  Gone are some of the more intriguing categories such as Best Host, Next Generation, Best American Story, Best Fight Against The System, Tearjerker, Best Duo, “Trending” and Musical Moment.  Reality TV Competition is simply just Reality Series/Franchise (yes, “Franchise”) which finds “RuPaul’s Drag Race” the only “competition” show to get nominated in the new format and, sadly, Best Documentary is now just Best Music Documentary. 

Continue reading ‘Black Panther’ And ‘Stranger Things’ Top Less Progressive 2018 MTV Movie And TV Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

Hollywood is currently in a nostalgic mood for the 1980s (with the 1990s creeping up not far behind). It’s the decade where consumers first experienced music videos, rented VHS tapes, and blockbusters became a summer staple. But, what’s driving this obsession in Hollywood for the neon-lit era?

READ MORE: Video Essay Examines Trauma In Stephen King’s ‘It’ [Watch]

In a new video essay, Now You See It dives into the nostalgia for the ’80s.

Continue reading Explaining Hollywood’s ’80s Obsession at The Playlist.

As much as we evidently love you, our glorious readers (why else would we toil so hard over such a breathtaking array of year-end features, for one thing), there is perhaps a group of people we love even more. And that is our contributors, who throughout the year give The Playlist its inimitable, sometimes cacophonous but always lively voice, and who help us to deliver the goods to you every day in the manner of a vigilant cat laying the eviscerated mouse of the day’s hot movie topics at your feet.

Continue reading The Most Underrated & Overrated Films Of 2017 at The Playlist.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the seven finalists for the Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar and there were some surprising omissions. Left off the list were  “It,” “Logan,” Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” “The Post,” “Blade Runner: 2049” and “Beauty and the Beast,” among others.  The biggest snub of all, however, has to be Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water.”

Guillermo del Toro says Richard Jenkins’ “Shape of Water” character written for Ian McKellen [Interview]

The Best Picture contender is expected to compete with “Dunkirk” for the most nominations for a single picture and to many this category was a given.

Continue reading ‘Shape of Water’ And ‘It’ Snubbed As Oscars Reveals Makeup And Hairstyling Shortlist at The Playlist.

So we’re off and running, galumphing through our end-of-year coverage like a giant hippo-pig destroying an underground mall. But with all of you doubtless still working your way through our immense 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2018 (which is basically our massive trailer for the year to come) we thought we’d take it pretty easy on you today, and take a look at the teasers, advance clips and promos that have whetted our appetites this past 12 months.

Continue reading The Best Movie Trailers Of 2017 at The Playlist.

According to a survey by Fandango, the most popular Halloween costume this year for dudes is Pennywise from “It.” That’s hardly a surprise given that Stephen King‘s killer clown is now back in the spotlight thanks to runaway hit film, which has become the top-grossing horror movie all time, surpassing the classic “The Exorcist.” However, director William Friedkin has just a little quibble with that statistic.

Continue reading William Friedkin Weighs In On ‘The Exorcist’ Sequels And ‘It’ at The Playlist.

The fall movie season has just started, and so far the box office story belongs to “It.” The Stephen King adaptation has been a smashing success, with the picture passing William Friedkin‘s “The Exorcist” to become the highest grossing horror movie all time. And the next victim Pennywise has claimed is Tom Cruise.

“It” scared off “American Made” and returned to the top of the box office to the tune of $17.3 million.

Continue reading ‘It’ Scares Away Tom Cruise To Once Again Take Multiplex Crown [Box Office] at The Playlist.

There were two kinds of horror to choose from at the box office the weekend — an adaptation of Stephen King‘s most popular works, and a heady journey into Darren Aronofsky‘s psyche —  and audiences made it clear which they preferred.

Coming off a fantastic opening weekend, “It” continued to hold strong, gathering another staggering $60 million and pushing the film’s ten-day total to $218 million.

Continue reading ‘It’ Floats To Top Spot, ‘mother!’ Flops [Box Office] at The Playlist.

Everyone has flipped for “It,” the first half of the two-part adaptation of Stephen King‘s epic novel, but bear with me while I drop a #hottake. The horror movie is certainly well made, and has some great moments of terror, but the constant comic relief nearly kills it. “Stranger Things” star Finn Wolfhard is tasked with dropping a one-liner every five minutes and it constantly undercuts any attempts to build dread, it’s the worst element of the movie, and keeps “It” from being truly great.

Continue reading ‘It’ Director’s Cut In The Works at The Playlist.

With reviews and praise for the latest adaptation of Stephen King‘s novel ‘It‘ launching it to huge box office success, audiences and fans of the source material are coming to see how ‘It’ is more than a film about a demonic-child-eating clown. Beneath the guise of the supernatural and extra terrestrial, lie the very human experiences of children.

In a video essay by CrackerJacked, an in depth analysis deconstructs the fear of clowns as a point of connection for the varying traumas and emotional damage the Losers Club undergo.

Continue reading Video Essay Examines Trauma In Stephen King’s ‘It’ [Watch] at The Playlist.

On this episode of Adjust Your Tracking, Joe and I discuss the massive success of “It,” but also find plenty to gripe about the movie. After the film’s record-breaking haul at the box office this past weekend, fans (and most critics) will no doubt be pleased for the inevitable Part 2 promised at the end credits. Even though audiences and most critics seem to be taken with this latest adaptation of Stephen King‘s seminal book (our review was quite positive), we do think the movie has plenty of issues, chief among them the monotonous rhythms of the plot, rushed characterizations and direction/script that’s tonally uneven.

Continue reading Examining The Successes & Failures Of ‘It’ [Adjust Your Tracking Podcast] at The Playlist.

When it comes to Stephen King stories, few have resonated quite like his 1986 novel “It.” Checking out the book from the library was something of a taboo right of passage for young kids, as was watching the not-as-scary-as-you-remember-it 1990 television adaptation (directed by John Carpenter confederate Tommy Lee Wallace). Pennywise the clown, in both print and portrayed by Tim Curry in the TV movie, became an iconic face of evil, as memorable and often referenced as the slasher movie stars of the same period.

Continue reading ‘It’: Stephen King’s Iconic Horror Novel Gets A Triumphant, Terrifying Adaptation [Review] at The Playlist.

The official reviews aren’t here yet, but the social media embargo for “It” lifted last week and the verdict is in: the adaptation of Stephen King‘s epic novel is going to scare the hell out of you. Already brought to life in a 1990 miniseries, this R-rated take reportedly ups the intensity, and you’ll never look at clowns the same way again.

Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Nicholas Hamilton, and Jackson Robert Scott all star in the film about a group of young kids, a crazed clown, and small town in Maine that can’t seem to escape a horrific curse.

Continue reading ‘It’ Clips: Derry, Maine Is Cursed at The Playlist.

We’re just a couple weeks away from “It,” and the horror film is going to be big. Early tracking suggests that the R-rated adaptation of Stephen King‘s bestseller could smash the record for September opening weekends, which is currently held by “Hotel Transylvania 2” with $48 million. But let’s leave the numbers out of it for now, and focus on the film itself, particularly the soundtrack which is gearing up to haunt your nightmares.

Continue reading “You’ll Float Too”: Stream 2 Nightmarish Tracks From ‘It’ Soundtrack at The Playlist.

“You’ll float too,” warns the tagline on the teaser poster for “It,” the first in a planned two-part adaptation of the iconic Stephen King horror tome.

After years of development, a memorable 1990 miniseries that starred Tim Curry, and an acrimonious change-up in director from “True Detective” and “Beasts of No Nation” helmer Cary Fukunaga to “Mama”director Andy Muschietti, “It” is finally coming to the big screen with “Hemlock Grove” star Bill Skarsgård strapping on the ruff and orange wig of every horror fan’s favourite personification of evil, Pennywise the clown.

Continue reading Intense New Footage From ‘It’ Featured In TV Spot at The Playlist.

The thinking that drives Hollywood trends among executives is always opaque, as proven by the next year or so, when we’ll get two projects from A-list directors within a matter of months about, of all things, the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III. So it’s hard to pick out exactly what it is in the water that’s made Stephen King such a hot property again all of a sudden.

Of course, the horror writer, one of the best-selling authors in the English language, and who’ll celebrate his 70th birthday in September, has never exactly been a cold property.

Continue reading Every Stephen King Movie Adaptation From Worst To Best at The Playlist.

It’s an unwritten but widely acknowledged rule that a movie is instantly better the moment Tilda Swinton shows up. The tremendously talented actress can do it all. There is no character too broad, or portrayal too subdued that she can’t handle. So, it’s really not all that surprising that the Oscar winner was considered for a key role in the highly anticipated “It.”

Producer Barbara Muschietti has revealed that Swinton was someone they eyed to play Pennywise — yes, the evil clown — in “It.” No, seriously.

Continue reading Tilda Swinton Was Eyed For Pennywise In ‘It’ at The Playlist.

It’s not often that a horror movie becomes a mainstream phenomenon. “Get Out” certainly broke out of its niche earlier this year, and this fall’s big screen adaptation of “It” is already looking like it’s going to be a big hit. The first trailers have been earning big buzz and lots of views, and now a terrifying new promo is here to sell this Stephen King adaptation, which already has a sequel planned (and before you get cynical, it makes sense, given the source material is a massive tome).

Continue reading New Trailer For Stephen King’s ‘It’ Terrifies at The Playlist.

In the latest, “one novel being split into a two-part film adaptation” news, director Andrés Muschietti has confirmed that his take on Stephen King’s horror classic “It” will unfold over the course of two R-rated movies. In an interview with Variety, Muschietti goes into detail about the production process of his first “It” film (which is out in September), the contemporaneous development of Part II, and his philosophy of horror cinema.

Continue reading Andrés Muschietti Confirms ‘It’ Sequel, Talks Going R-Rated at The Playlist.

26-year old Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård (“Hemlock Grove”) takes on the role of Pennywise, the sewer-swimming demon clown, for director Andrés Muschietti’s (“Mama”) revival of Stephen King’s bedtime horror story, “It.” Skarsgård has some big clown shoes to fill since Tim Curry terrified children everywhere back in ABC’s 1990 miniseries.

Continue reading Bill Skarsgård Terrifies As Pennywise In New Trailer For Stephen King Horror ‘It’ at The Playlist.