It: Chapter Two and Doctor Sleep footage & trailer reactions from CinemaCon

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Andy Muschietti's adaptation of Stephen King's "It" blew audiences away in 2017, which leaves the upcoming sequel with some mighty tough clown shoes to fill, but I've got my fingers crossed that IT: CHAPTER TWO will be able to stick the landing. As we know, the sequel takes place twenty-seven years after the events of the first film and finds The Losers' Club returning to Derry to put an end to Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) once and for all, but unbeknownst to them, the evil entity has returned stronger and crueler than ever.

Although the '89-era cast have returned, IT: CHAPTER TWO will find James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, James Ransone, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, and Andy Bean playing the now adult members of The Losers' Club. Warner Bros.' presentation at CinemaCon came to a close with an extended clip and teaser for IT: CHAPTER TWO, and thankfully, our own Editor-in-Chief Paul Shirey was there to give us the rundown and let us know what he thought of the terrifying footage!

IT: CHAPTER TWO screenwriter Gary Dauberman has previously teased that although the ending to the sequel will satisfy audiences, it may also "break their hearts a little bit." Dauberman also added that it was an exciting challenge to bring these characters back together after a twenty-seven year absence.

For me it was just really fun to be able to revisit these characters and see what they’re up to 27 years later. There was a challenge trying to get all those character introductions and “here’s where we are so far” which is fun to tackle. How can we find an elegant solution to introduce this many characters again to the audience? In the first one, they’re all together in school so you see them in a bunch but 27 years later, I don’t think it’s a spoiler they’re sort of scattered all over the country. So we see pieces of who they’ve become which I think is really exciting. Then of course it was great to see them return to Derry.

In addition, we got a peek at some footage from another Stephen King adaptation, DOCTOR SLEEP, the sequel to THE SHINING starring Ewan McGregor as a grown-up Danny Torrence from director Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House). Check out our reaction in the video up top!

IT: CHAPTER TWO will hit theaters on September 6, 2019.