Starting tonight, Pennywise will invite you to float on the big screen with the release of IT in theaters, but New Line Cinema is already looking ahead to their expected follow-up to the Stephen King adaptation.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gary Dauberman (Annabelle: Creation, the upcoming The Nun) has finalized an agreement to write the screenplay for the sequel to IT, currently referred to as "Chapter Two." Dauberman is one of several screenwriters credited on IT (2017), having come aboard the movie after filmmaker Cary Fukunaga departed the project. Fukunaga and Chase Palmer had co-written a screenplay for the film, but Dauberman gave the movie his own creative perspective for director Andy Muschietti to work from.
Although nothing has been announced, Muschietti could potentially return to direct the IT sequel, which, if it follows King's 1986 source material, would follow the adult versions of the Losers' Club 27 years after they defeated the ancient evil known as It in their formative years (a battle which took place in the 1980s in the new film, as opposed to the 1950s setting of the Losers' Club in their youth in King's novel).
Also potentially returning for the second film are producers Barbara Muschietti, Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Seth Grahame-Smith, and David Katzenberg.
At this time, no actors have been announced to play the adult versions of the Losers' Club in the sequel, and it's not officially known if the young cast of the first film will reprise their roles in the second movie, which might feature flashback sequences.
A release date for "Chapter Two" of the IT adaptation has yet to be revealed, but THR believes that a 2019 target date "is likely." We'll keep Daily Dead readers updated as more details surface. In the meantime, what do you hope to see in the sequel to IT? Also, in case you missed it, read our own Heather Wixson's interview with Gary Dauberman, in which he talks about adapting King's epic novel for the big screen.