This is 'It': The scary clown looms large, shatters weekend collection records

After a dud summer conclusion that witnessed one of the worst box office collections in the past decade and half, "It" dragged it out of the gutter and blew fresh air into Hollywood. Shattering horror movie records in the very first weekend, the Stephen King's book adaptation is winning hard at the box office.

Earning a massive $123.1 million domestically, the R-Rated movie watched the scary clown loom over theatres despite the impact of Hurricane Irma that affected several parts of the USA. Variety reports that analysts expected the film to close at an estimate of $117.2 million. But "It" stunned everyone with the jaw-dropping number.

Also Read: IT movie review round-up: Stephen King's film is a 'terrifying piece of classic horror' 

The horror film confidently stands at the third position of 2017's largest opening weekend. The film beat Spider-Man: Homecoming for the spot. The Tom Holland movie earned $117 million in its opening weekend. The highest grosser list of 2017 is ruled by Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy 2, domestically.

Though third in the list of highest grosser this year, the film's remarkable opening had drove it on top of the highest horror film opening ever, The Hollywood Reporter reveals. "It" beat 2011 release Paranormal Activity 3. The film earned a whopping $52.6 million. With "It", horror movies have officially entered the $100 million openers' club.

"It" has recorded the highest opening weekend for the month of September since 2015's Hotel Transylvania,The Guardian adds. The previous record stood at $48.5 million.

IGN also notes that the film broke the record of the biggest opening fall weekend previously held by Gravity (earning $55.8 million) in 2013.

The earnings prove as a big win considering that the movie was made with a budget of $35 million. Warner Bros' president of domestic distribution, Jeff Goldstein felt that the Sunday predictions were reasonably low considering factors like the beginning of the American Football season and Hurricane Irma making a landfall in numerous locations.

With no other big movie was released along with the horror film. And the previous weekend witnessed no big films entering the market. These factors also acted as a catalyst to "It's" success.

As of now, the weekend sees "It" at the number 1 spot, Reese Witherspoon's Home Again at number 2 earning $9 million over the weekend and The Hitman's Bodyguard at the third position. "It" had Annabelle: Creation for company on the top five movies chart this weekend.

"It" was not the only Stephen King adaptation released this year. The author's story was adapted as the Dark Tower and released this year which faired extremely lower than expected. IGN also noted that "It" has earned the biggest opening for a Stephen King adaptation.

While it broke so many records in the first weekend collections, the film stood just short of breaking Deadpool's record (biggest opening for an R-Rated movie) by an approximate of $12 million.

It movie trailer: