IT trailer image
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Studio math might be one part proprietary data and one part alchemy, but here’s something I feel pretty confident saying: when your trailer sets the all-time record for most views in a day, you’re about to make some moolah. We all remember that the first teaser trailer for It had 197 million views in its first 24 hours online, shattering the previous (albeit short-lived) record of 139 million set by The Fate of the Furious. Those would be extraordinary numbers for any movie, but for an unapologetic horror film about a demon clown? Not even the most aggressive Warner Bros. projections could have predicted that.

Simply put, fans are fascinated with It, and that’s why a random production photo of Pennywise in action is currently blowing up the r/Movies community on Reddit. Maybe remain just a little skeptical  —  it’s hard to know what to make of anonymous photos on the internet  —  but we’re going to proceed as if this is all on the up-and-up:

As you’ll note, the photo shows Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the Clown, the demonic entity who lives under the streets of Derry, Maine and occasionally lures children to their death. The photo seems to show Pennywise in the middle of (eating? attacking?) one of the Loser’s Club, the ragtag group of kids who take it upon themselves to defeat the creature once and for all. Of course, since this is a production photo, all of this is viewed through a monitor as the film’s younger cast members take advantage of the catering in the background. There’s a nice sense of balance to this photo: kids living their lives, kids beating eaten by clowns. The surface life and the underneath. Clever, right?

Here’s the full plot synopsis for It:

When children begin to disappear in the town of Derry, Maine, a group of young kids are faced with their biggest fears when they square off against an evil clown named Pennywise, whose history of murder and violence dates back for centuries.

It will come screaming into theaters on September 8.

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