Saturday Update: Warner Bros. reports It: Chapter Two scared up a strong $37.4 million opening domestically on Friday. That claims the second highest opening day ever for a horror release, topping last year’s Halloween ($33.1 million) and trailing the standing record ($50.4 million) set by Chapter Two‘s predecessor two years ago this weekend.

That opening day figure includes Thursday evening’s initial $10.5 million launch, meaning the proper Friday gross accounted for 72 percent of opening day revenue. The first film had a similar 73 percent share of its Thursday+Friday revenues earned on Friday itself, an early indication that weekend play should follow a similar trajectory.

Early word of mouth is more positive than that of critics, with the latter giving the sequel a 65 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (compared to the first’s 86 percent), while verified moviegoers give Chapter Two an 82 percent as of Saturday morning. (The first film stands at 84 percent, albeit with nearly 20x more votes.

Domestically, we’re projecting opening weekend will land around the conservative end of pre-release expectations with $90 million+ — on target with the studio’s Wednesday projection. Anything over Halloween‘s $76.2 million last fall would rank as the second highest debut ever for a horror genre release. The first It holds the record with $123.4 million.

Overseas, the sequel previously generated $16.5 million from 48 markets on Thursday and added another $22.3 million on Friday — breaking records in several territories. With yesterday’s earnings, the film stands at $39 million internationally so far. The film expanded in another 27 markets on Friday, including the UK, Mexico, and Spain, to be followed by France on September 11 and Japan on November 1.

Additional notes from Warner Bros. on Chapter Two‘s international performance, followed by our domestic weekend estimates:

Capturing an exceptional 78% share of the Top 5 films, UK opened to an estimated £2.5m ($3.0m) from 1,998 screens, becoming the 2nd biggest opening day ever for a horror film, surpassed only by IT, and the biggest opening day for a WB film in 2019. Including sneaks, the running cume is £3.0m ($3.6m). Mexico generated an estimated Ps 50.1m ($2.5m) from 3,360 screens, dominating with a 76% share of the Top 5 films, coming in as the biggest WB opening day of 2019. Including sneaks, the cume is currently Ps 68.3m ($3.4m). Spain dominated the market at an estimated €1.0m ($1.1m) from 737 screens, taking a 69% share of the Top 5 films and boasting the biggest opening day for a WB film in 2019 and the 2nd biggest opening day ever for a horror film. Including previews, the cume to date is €1.2m ($1.4m). Sweden debuted to an excellent SEK 5.0m ($509k) from 220 screens, with over 60% share of the Top 5 films. Results are roughly on par with the opening day of the first installment and rank as the biggest opening day by far for a WB film in 2019. The running cume is SEK 6.0m ($614k). Russia (Day 2): RUB 127m ($1.9m) on 3,215 screens, ranking #1 with a staggering 91% share of the Top 5 films. The running cume is RUB 265m ($4.0m). Germany (Day 2): €1.6m ($1.7m) on 681 screens, ranking #1 with a 64% share of the Top 5 films. The running cume is currently €3.0m ($3.2m). Italy (Day 2): €1.1m ($1.2m) on 840 screens, maintaining the top spot with a 52% share of the Top 5 films. The cume to date is €2.6m ($2.8m). Australia (Day 2): A$1.5m ($977k) on 501 screens, capturing a 72% share of the Top 5 films and taking the progressive cume to A$ 2.9m ($2.0m) Brazil (Day 2): R$ 3.3m ($784k) on 2,022 screens with a 65% share of the Top 5 films. The cume to date is R$ 6.7m ($1.6m).

Early Weekend Estimates (Domestic)

FRI, SEP. 6 – SUN, SEP. 8

WIDE (1000+) # TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST. 1 It Chapter Two $91,000,000 — 4,570 — $19,912 $91,000,000 1 Warner Bros 2 Angel Has Fallen $6,100,000 -48% 3,229 -107 $1,889 $53,560,501 3 Lionsgate 3 Good Boys $5,200,000 -45% 3,193 -265 $1,629 $66,659,700 4 Universal Pictures 4 The Lion King $4,300,000 -38% 2,610 -580 $1,648 $529,213,439 8 Walt Disney Pictures 5 Overcomer $3,500,000 -38% 2,153 326 $1,626 $24,456,163 3 Sony Pictures 6 Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw $3,300,000 -49% 2,299 -673 $1,435 $163,832,145 6 Universal Pictures 7 Ready or Not $2,300,000 -61% 2,350 -607 $979 $25,701,688 3 Fox Searchlight 8 Once Upon a Time In Hollywood $2,200,000 -47% 1,402 -591 $1,569 $134,402,282 7 Sony Pictures 9 The Peanut Butter Falcon $2,200,000 -27% 1,310 61 $1,679 $12,174,657 5 Roadside Attractions 10 Dora and the Lost City of Gold $2,000,000 -51% 1,788 -689 $1,119 $53,989,150 5 Paramount Pictures 11 Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark $2,000,000 -60% 2,101 -646 $952 $61,825,734 5 CBS Films / Lionsgate 12 The Angry Birds Movie 2 $1,600,000 -62% 1,854 -1457 $863 $37,977,894 4 Sony Pictures 13 Spider-Man: Far from Home $1,300,000 -70% 1,433 -1729 $907 $388,182,846 10 Sony / Columbia

LIMITED (100 — 999) # TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST. 1 Brittany Runs A Marathon $1,000,000 141% 230 181 $4,348 $1,000,000 3 Amazon Studios 2 47 Meters Down: Uncaged $750,000 -69% 975 -1249 $769 $20,911,739 4 Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures 3 Don’t Let Go $675,000 -71% 922 0 $732 $675,000 2 OTL Releasing 4 The Art of Racing in the Rain $525,000 -60% 740 -735 $709 $25,275,078 5 20th Century Fox 5 Toy Story 4 $500,000 -79% 640 -2075 $781 $431,763,269 12 Disney 6 Tod@s Caen $475,000 -57% 371 0 $1,280 $2,076,041 2 Lionsgate / Pantelion 7 Chhichhore $450,000 — 195 — $2,308 $450,000 1 FIP 8 Aladdin $250,000 -44% 198 -32 $1,263 $354,790,999 16 Disney 9 John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum $45,000 -46% 113 -26 $398 $170,994,378 17 Lionsgate

PLATFORM (1 — 99) # TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST. 1 Mission Mangal $125,000 -67% 94 -57 $1,330 $3,584,348 4 FIP 2 The Fighting Preacher $50,000 32% 23 -9 $2,174 $50,000 7 Purdie Distribution 3 Tel Aviv on Fire $20,000 -59% 22 -13 $909 $20,000 6 Cohen Media Group 4 Avengers: Endgame $15,000 -79% 55 -55 $273 $858,368,685 20 Disney

Friday Morning: Warner Bros. reports that Stephen King and director Andy Muschietti’s It: Chapter Two floated away to a strong $10.5 million start from shows beginning at 5pm in over 3,700 locations last night. That keeps the film on track to likely earn $90 million or more this weekend in North America, per the studio’s pre-release expectation.

Comparison-wise, this stands as the second highest Thursday night start of all-time in the horror genre and in September release history — trailing only the first It‘s $13.5 million two years ago in both categories. That pic opened at 7pm, so comparisons aren’t entirely one for one.

As recently as last year on this same weekend, Warner also opened The Nun to $5.4 million (It 2 exceeded that by 94 percent). The sequel also handily surpassed the $7.7 million Thursday start of last October’s Halloween by 36 percent.

Projections are in flux at this stage of the weekend (as always), but you can check out our earlier weekend forecast here for a more detailed breakdown on the whats and whys of scenarios for how the weekend ahead will play out.

More to come…