'It' Might Just Be The Start Of A Horrifying New Movie Universe

Between the popularity it's enjoying at the box office and audiences' consistent, enjoyable relationship with the work of Stephen King, it's not too much of a surprise that the newest adaptation of It already has a sequel in the works. That said, the film is ripe for multiple sequels given its very long source material, so how many chapters of It will there be? The source material, King's novel of the same name, clocks in at over 1,100 pages give or take, so the planned sequel to It could very well not be the last time we see Pennywise the clown.

Shortly after It's release in theatres in early September, it was confirmed by a number of sources that a sequel would indeed be happening. According to Entertainment Weekly, no release date has been set for the sequel, currently being referred to as "Chapter Two," but it will involve audiences returning to the world of It with the members of The Loser's Club as adults. According to It director Andy Muschietti, despite the sequel likely focusing on the adults, there will still be flashbacks woven into the story, so thankfully we're not saying goodbye to the younger Losers just yet.

"On the second movie, that dialogue between timelines will be more present. If we’re telling the story of adults, we are going to have flashbacks that take us back to the ‘80s and inform the story in the present day," Muschietti told EW. Thank goodness for that.

All of this is to say that it's clear that the filmmakers have a focus on staying faithful to the source material while continuing, expanding, and adding depth to the It saga. As such, it makes sense that in doing this, there could be a desire to do spinoff films, prequels, or simply continue to tell the original story that is being told in It.

There's still a reasonable chance the story of It can be broken into further chapters especially if the sequel proves to be as much a success as the first installment. If that's the case, then there might be a greater desire to do so. And why not? We know from the first film that the creature called It has been coming back every 27 years to terrorize children and that he is an essentially eternal demon — that's the kind of lore that begs further sequels, prequels and spinoffs for further explorations.

There's also precedent for It to follow this kind of multi-directional franchise growth as well. Consider other popular horror franchises, like the Annabelle films, the Saw franchise, and even Paranormal Activity. All of those films began as singular ideas that we ripe enough to squeeze more and more stories from. With those as examples, It could very well follow a similar, multi-film pattern.

There's no definitive statement on what It will become going forward, but the chances are good that if It continues to be a box office hit and the sequel does just as well, then this most certainly won't be the last we've seen of Pennywise or the Losers.