It Movie Release Order and Adaptations
The Stephen King It movies in order follow two distinct timelines. The first adaptation was the 1990 television miniseries It, which aired on ABC and condensed the novel into a single broadcast. The second major adaptation is the 2017 theatrical film It Chapter Two, which serves as the direct sequel to the 2017 movie It. Both films are based on the 1986 novel and follow the Losers Club as children and adults. The 2017 film It was released by Warner Bros. Pictures and became the highest-grossing horror film at the time. It Chapter Two completed the story arc and was also distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The 1990 miniseries remains a separate canonical entry and is available for streaming on various platforms including Max. The theatrical films are rated R, while the 1990 version is TV-14. The order for a complete narrative experience is the 1990 miniseries, followed by the 2017 film, and then It Chapter Two in 2019. This sequence preserves the original novel structure and the separate continuity of the TV adaptation.
Streaming availability has changed since the latest data. The 1990 miniseries and the 2017 and 2019 films rotate between platforms including Max, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV. Warner Bros. Discovery owns the streaming rights for the miniseries and the theatrical films through its library. The 2017 film It earned over 700 million dollars worldwide at the box office. It Chapter Two grossed over 470 million dollars globally. The combined box office total for the two theatrical films exceeds 1.1 billion dollars. The 1990 miniseries was watched by over 30 million households during its original broadcast, making it one of the most viewed TV movies of that year. The box office performance of the 2017 film ranked it among the top-grossing horror films domestically. The 2019 sequel was the highest-grossing horror sequel at the time of release. These figures are sourced from public box office tracking services and studio reports.
Cast, Characters, and Story Structure Across the Films
The cast differs significantly between the 1990 miniseries and the 2017 and 2019 films. The 1990 version starred Tim Curry as Pennywise the Dancing Clown and John Ritter as Bill Denbrough. The 2017 film introduced a new ensemble child cast, with Jaeden Martell as Bill Denbrough and Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise. It Chapter Two brought back the adult versions of the characters, with James McAvoy as adult Bill Denbrough and Jessica Chastain as adult Beverly Marsh. The story is split into two timelines in the theatrical films. The first timeline follows the Losers Club as children in Derry, Maine, during the summer of 1989. The second timeline jumps twenty-seven years later, showing the adults returning to Derry after Mike Hanlon calls them back. The novel uses a similar dual timeline structure, and the films adapt this by splitting the narrative into two movies. The 1990 miniseries compresses both timelines into a single broadcast, altering some subplots for runtime.
The character of Pennywise, portrayed by Tim Curry in the 1990 version and Bill Skarsgård in the 2017 and 20