‘IT’ Has Already Topped ‘The Exorcist’ as The Most Profitable Scary Movie Ever Made

Which horror hit is the better frightfest?

September 21 marks Stephen King‘s 70th birthday. This year the famed horror author has plenty to celebrate, especially this: the new film adaptation of his classic novel IT has become the undisputed R-rated horror movie box office champion.

That means IT—which is the first of two films based on the book—has beaten the former longtime champ, The Exorcist. 

Forbes reports IT will officially clinch the ticket sales crown sometime on September 21. 

While PG and PG-13 films still top the all-time bestselling horror film lists, they may not last that long, according to Forbes:

It’s not quite the biggest scary movie ever, as the likes of I Am Legend ($256m), Jaws ($260m), Gravity ($274m), The Sixth Sense ($292m), Jurassic Park ($402m, counting the 2013 reissue) and Jurassic World ($652m) have higher domestic grosses.


But with a likely $30 million third weekend, it will pass the Will Smith apocalyptic chiller and the Stephen Spielberg shark drama by Sunday. And since a $300m+ domestic total is now all but guaranteed (maybe as early as the end of next weekend), it looks like It will be the biggest scary movie ever outside of the first and fourth Jurassic Park movies. 

So Pennywise has more reason to smile than ever before, and Stephen King is likely going to have a ton of eerie red balloons at his birthday party. 

We’re worried that Linda Blair may not be too happy about this.