Pennywise the Clown hit CinemaCon as Warner Bros. debuted all new footage from the horror sequel IT: Chapter Two. Published in 1986, Stephen King’s novel IT would prove to be one of the prolific horror author’s biggest and most terrifying books. Set both in the 1950s and in contemporary times, the book followed a group of friends as kids and adults, as they battled an ancient evil who walked the earth in the guise of a terrifying clown.

IT would first be adapted as a TV miniseries in 1990, starring Tim Curry as Pennywise, the shape-shifting clown who feeds on children. In 2017, IT returned for a feature film treatment, with Andy Muschietti taking on directorial duties. Fueled by Bill Skarsgård’s performance as Pennywise, the film would go on to be a surprising worldwide blockbuster with $700 million in grosses. In 2019, Pennywise and his adolescent adversaries return, but this time the kids are all grown up and ready to finish their battle with the horrifying entity who tormented them in their youths. Bill Hader, Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy head up the cast as the adult versions of the Losers’ Club.

Tuesday at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Warner Bros. gave their panel attendees a first look at footage from IT: Chapter Two. The presentation began with director Andy Muschietti doubling down on the promise he made to CinemaCon attendees ahead of the original IT when he told them “You’re gonna s–t yourself.” The footage itself then began with an extended scene of Jessica Chastain as the grown-up Beverly Marsh returning to the apartment in Derry where she lived with her abusive father in the original film.

The scene starts with Beverly knocking on the apartment door, but instead of her father, an old woman answers whom Beverly doesn’t recognize. “Dear it’s not for me to tell you this but your father passed away,” the old lady tells Beverly. The woman then invites Bev in for a drink, asking her if the apartment is like she remembers. “It’s much cleaner,” Beverly replies. The old lady goes to make tea and Beverly, looking around the apartment, finds an old blood-covered letter that leads her to flash back to a happy memory from childhood.

The old lady then brings the tea and puts on music. Beverly looks at a window and notices a bunch of bugs gathering there, and the old lady apologizes for the heat, saying “It’s that time of year.” The woman then utters the strange statement, “No one who dies in Derry ever really dies,” confusing Beverly. The old woman then stares off for a moment, wearing a creepy smile (our first hint that the old woman is really Pennywise the Clown in another of his forms?). The woman suddenly comes to and asks Beverly how it is to be back in Derry again. Bev says it’s strange and the woman asks her how so, but their conversation is interrupted by the buzzing of an oven. The old woman is making cookies and insists Beverly stay and have one.

As the woman goes to get the cookies, Beverly looks at some old portraits on the wall. She asks about one particular picture of the woman’s parents. The old lady tells Bev her father joined the circus. Bev looks at some more old pictures and the woman in the background suddenly snaps out, showing supernatural speed, peeks at what Bev is doing and then disappears back into the kitchen. As Bev takes note of another picture of the old lady’s father in the circus, the woman again appears in the background, moving with creepy speed. The woman then tells Bev she was “Always daddy’s little girl,” and asks her guest “What about you. Are you still daddy’s little girl, Beverly?” Of course, Beverly was horribly abused by her father in the first film, so the question itself is creepy. The old lady then charges in, making a horrifying sound.

The CinemaCon audience was left in suspense about Bev’s fate however, as the footage then cut to a sizzle reel of both the kid versions of The Losers’ Club and the grown-up versions, as well as shots of Pennywise flying above, clutching a bunch of red balloons, and shots of the circus and characters trudging through water. The reel ended with Pennywise coming out and saying “Hello” to a little girl. From the above footage description, it’s clear that IT: Chapter Two is going to bring the horror as hard as the original IT did, and maybe even harder. It’ll be interesting to see if the second film can scare up the same huge box office grosses as the first film did when it arrived in 2017.

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  • IT Chapter Two Release Date: 2019-09-06