Author Stephen King has created a rather successful brand throughout his career. For decades, in addition to crafting some of the biggest horror stories in modern history, his work has helped inspire some of the most popular horror movies and television productions ever. Now the most successful Stephen King movie of all time is available to stream on Netflix.
It can often be difficult tracking down the numerous Stephen King adaptations that have made their way to film and television. After all, the rights to these various productions are split across plenty of different companies. Thus it’s all the more convenient for Netflix subscribers that they can stream this particular Stephen King movie right now.
Of course, there are all sorts of iconic films based on King’s works. In fact, some of them aren’t even horror films. In addition to titles like Carrie, The Shining, Pet Sematary, and Misery, King also wrote drama stories that evolved into the feature films The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption.
While these are all profitable and iconic titles, there’s one that made more money than any of them. The 2017 film adaptation titled IT happens to be the highest-grossing Stephen King adaptation of all time. It earned $701.8 million at the worldwide box office with a budget between $35 to $40 million. Now that’s certainly an impressive performance.
The film’s story was followed soon after by IT: Chapter Two in 2019. As of this writing, this follow-up isn’t streaming on Netflix. Though it’s worth noting that it didn’t reach its predecessor’s success. Nevertheless, it still made a smash at the box office, having earned $473.1 million worldwide on a much larger $79 million budget.
It might not be too surprising that the films did so well, however. Fans were quite anxious for a return from Pennywise, the villain of the titular novel and 1990 miniseries which first adapted it. The character has become a pop culture icon and it was only a matter of time before the sinister alien-clown made a reappearance. As such, the massive box office success of IT and IT: Chapter Two was inevitable.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates regarding the work of Stephen King and other trending titles available on platforms like Netflix. As for now, subscribers can do themselves a favor by checking out IT on Netflix and discover why this particular film has become the most successful of its kind.