The trailer for the It reboot looks fantastic — and clearly I’m not the only one who thinks so. When it was first released, the video shattered the movie trailer record for the number of online views within its first 24 hours, suggesting that a lot of people are interested in the horror film. But trailers can be misleading, and there was still a chance the studio would see the potential for a more family-friendly blockbuster based on the hugely positive reaction and tone the film down to earn a PG-13 rating. Thankfully, though, that didn’t happen.
It has now officially been rated R, meaning any kids who want to be traumatized for life will have to buy a ticket to The Nut Job 2 and then sneak into It — just as our forefathers intended. The movie received the rating from the MPAA for violence/horror, bloody images, and language — in other words, the three things we would expect a faithful adaptation of Stephen King’s very adult novel to feature.
It’s worth noting that, thanks to its rating, this new version has the potential to be far scarier than the 1990 original. That movie aired as a primetime miniseries on network television, meaning the FCC had quite a bit of influence over what could be shown. It was nowhere near an R-rating and still managed to be terrifying (though a little dated by today’s standards), so with basically no restrictions, the reboot could bring a whole new level of terror to the story.
We’ll find out when the R-rated It is released in theaters on September 8.
