More than twenty-five years after the mini-series adaptation, Stephen King's epic novel IT is being brought to the screen again, this time as a two-part feature adaptation from MAMA director Andy Muschietti. The first movie will center on
seven children known as The Losers Club who come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.
With a cast that includes Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Owen Teague, Nicholas Hamilton, Tatum Lee, and Javier Botet, that half of Muschietti's IT has been filmed and is scheduled to reach theatres on September 8, 2017.
All through the filming of this half of the story we've heard that the second half, which has the surviving members of The Losers Club battling Pennywise again as adults, wouldn't be moving forward until this one's box office results come in. However, there is now some indication online that the second half may be moving toward production already.
The websites Production Weekly and My Entertainment World, both of which keep track of projects in various stages of development, have IT listed as filming in Toronto, Canada as of March 17th, and the synopsis listed would be for the second half:
A promise made twenty-eight years ago calls seven adults to reunite in Derry, Massachusetts, where as teenagers they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city's children. Unsure that their Losers Club had vanquished the creature all those years ago, the seven had vowed to return to Derry if IT should ever reappear.
One thing that casts doubt on the idea that the second half could already be filming is the start date being so soon – I think we would have heard about it getting the green light earlier than two weeks ahead of production.
Producer Barbara Muschietti made some comments in an Instagram discussion of the My Entertainment World listing, but wouldn't confirm or deny that part 2 of IT was ready to start filming. All she would say is that the Muschiettis are "just doing what we love to do", and that at least one part of the listing is inaccurate – Derry is in Maine.
While it would be exciting if the second half of IT were to start rolling already, since it would be good to know that we're definitely going to get instead of having to wait for the reaction to the first part, I have a feeling that this upcoming shoot may just be some reshoots on part 1 instead of the filming of part 2. To find out for sure, we can only wait and see.