Stephen King Honors ‘It’ Release With Red Balloon in Home Window

Dozens upon dozens of Stephen King stories have been adapted into various other mediums to varying degrees of success, so surely the author can’t give all of them a ringing endorsement. In the case of this year’s adaptation of his massive novel It, the author seems to be quite excited, even placing a red balloon in one of the front windows of his home in Bangor, Maine.

Arguably the most famous resident of Bangor, King’s house has become a tourist destination for anyone in the vicinity hoping to see what kind of house the author lives in. Knowing how many visitors flock to the area and with an adaptation hitting theaters in a little over a week, King clearly wanted to give a nod to the film with the visible red balloon.

In the story, a monstrous entity takes the form of the killer clown Pennywise to kidnap, torment and kill children in the town of Derry, Maine. Upon seeing the clown in the context of the film, audiences might know not to trust the jester, but the characters in the film don’t directly draw nefarious conclusions. Pennywise often offers bright red balloons to characters in hopes of drawing them in close to capture them.

The 1986 novel was adapted into a mini-series in 1990 and the balloon iconography was used quite heavily. Other than Pennywise himself, the red balloon has been one of the most recognizable images used in marketing for the upcoming film.

Earlier this year, the author took to Twitter to tell people his thoughts on the film.

It might seem like a marketing ploy for King to share positive messages, but the author didn’t share quite the same message with the recent adaptation of The Dark Tower.

After having seen The Dark Tower, which isn’t a direct adaptation of a specific story but borrowed elements found throughout the series of novels, King reportedly told director Nikolaj Arcel, “This is not exactly my novel but this is very much the spirit and the tone. And I’m very happy,” according to Arcel.

With that adaptation currently sitting at 16% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, it’s more obvious that King was intentionally vague about his comments regarding that film.

It lands in theaters September 8.