The only thing needed to end the long summer drought at Hollywood box office was just a clown, Pennywise.

Stephen King adaptation 'It' movie smashed all the records at the box office and even surpassed the earlier expectations. The R-rated horror movie earned a total of $117.2 million from 4,103 locations.

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With a 135-minute running time, the movie received a fresh rating of 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. According to the analysts, the movie was expected to earn a total $65 million on the opening weekend at the US box office.

It movie
Stephen King's 'It' movieYoutube Screenshot

But the movie surpassed all the expectations and shattered all the previous records. 'It' witnessed the third-largest opening weekend in 2017 followed by Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy. As Variety noted, the horror flick, which had an estimated budget of only $35 million, about even with Spider-Man: Homecoming which made $117 million.

After the box office faced the worst summer of all time, 'It' saw the biggest opening weekend as a horror or supernatural movie. Variety reports, Paranormal Activity 3 earned $52.6 million in 2011.

Watch the trailer for 'It' here.

Besides its domestic gross, the movie is expected to collect $92 million from 46 markets overseas. Hence, the movie will be able to pull in $179 million from the global market.

Directed by Andy Muschietti, the movie follows a scary-looking clown named Pennywise (played by Bill Skarsgard) who terrorises children in the town of Derry, Maine. But eventually, a group of kids squares off against the evil clown.

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