Will the 'IT' Sequel Be Split Into Two Movies?

09/11/2017 05:07 pm EDT

The IT movie adaptation is officially a success, with the film earning over $100 million in its opening weekend. That has put the planned IT sequel (tentatively referred to as IT Chapter 2) on the fast track for production over at Warner Bros.

However, fans of Stephen King's source novel know that there is quite a bit more that happens in the second half of the book, as compared to the first. You can read this breakdown of what happens in IT Chapter 2 if you never experienced the book, but suffice to say: there's enough material to mak the notion of fitting it all into one feature film a daunting prospect.

So: will IT Chapter 2 be cut into two movies? IT Chapter 1 director Andy Muschietti sat down with Variety and directly addressed the prospect of there being two IT sequels:

"I don't think so," Muschietti said. "I've read that idea in the media, which is funny. I understand why they would think that because New Line originally split up "The Hobbit" into three [movies] instead of two. It would make sense because it would give me more turf to develop the characters and more of a canvas to develop the journey, but to be honest, there wasn't a conversation about that and now we are designing the story as one single film."

Without getting into SPOILERS: IT Chapter 2 jumps ahead in time twenty-seven years to when The Losers Club kids are now adults. When Pennywise once again awakens to terrorize Derry, The Losers Club returns home to battle him like the swore to. The only problem? Something has happened to erase their collective memory of the traumatic events of their childhood.

That loss forces the Losers into a race against time to regain their memories, and their bond, before Pennywise can pick them off first. That involves revisiting key places and memories form childhood, which means a lot of flashbacks and mythos to be explored.

IT is now playing in theaters.

Disclosure: PopCulture. is owned by Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.