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“It” is officially a hit. That new adaptation of the terrifying best-seller by Stephen King broke September box-office records over the weekend, earning $117.2 million in its first weekend at North American multiplexes. So, why are moviegoers losing their minds over a scary clown who already invaded young viewers’ nightmares in a TV mini-series 27 years ago? And how does the movie compare to the book? Our list of essential “It” reads takes a look.

Read these articles after you’ve seen the movie

‘Let’s Cast the Adults for the “It” Sequel’ [Vulture]

Theorizing about who should play older versions of the members of The Losers Club, Nate Jones writes: “When you’re talking about 40ish, redheaded actresses, the conversation starts and ends with two names: Amy Adams and Jessica Chastain. Since Lillis [the actress Sophia Lillis] is set to play Young Amy Adams in the upcoming HBO adaptation of ‘Sharp Objects,’ let’s keep the pattern going and have Amy Adams play Old Sophia Lillis.”

‘Meet the Man Behind the Killer Clown Pennywise’ [Rolling Stone]

In a new profile, Bill Skarsgard explains how he put his stamp on Pennywise the Clown, the iconic villain played to campy perfection in the mini-series by Tim Curry. “I tried to find answers in what King originally wrote,” Skarsgard tells Alex Suskind. “And there are a lot of bread crumbs and hints that you can interpret in different ways. But for me that painted a clear picture of what Pennywise was — and then the next step was to try and incorporate that into the performance.”

‘What the New Movie Misses About Stephen King’s “It”’ [The New Yorker]

As Joshua Rothman sees it: “The novel has weight not because of its monsters but because it tells a larger story about the discovery of evil. As the kids become adults, they learn more and more about the history of Derry, Maine. They find that it once had an active chapter of the ‘Maine Legion of White Decency’ — a version of the Ku Klux Klan — which murdered more than a hundred African-Americans by burning down a nightclub. They hear about the killing of a gay man down by the canal and about the gleeful vigilante execution of a group of fugitives by the town’s bloodthirsty men.”

‘How “It” Handles the Book’s Most Controversial Scene’ [Entertainment Weekly]

If you read the novel before seeing the film, you might have noticed that it omitted the book’s infamous child-orgy scene. As Gary Dauberman, one of the movie’s screenwriters, explains to Entertainment Weekly’s Kevin P. Sullivan: “While it’s an important scene, it doesn’t define the book in any way, I don’t think, and it shouldn’t. We know what the intent was of that scene and why he put it in there, and we tried to accomplish what the intent was in a different way.”

‘About the Gross Child Sex Scene in “It” That Didn’t Make It Into the Movie’ [Jezebel]

Rich Juzwiak frames the scene as “a depiction of preadolescent female sexuality as a functional device — as a means and not an end in itself.” He continues: “This utilitarian view of sexuality, despite operating in something as utterly wild as a group sex scene amongst kids, is ultra conservative in its reinforcement of the idea that female sexuality is meant to serve men, that sex for women operates for the greater good, like making babies or unifying a bunch of guys. And further, that platonic friendship amongst women and men is simply impossible.”

‘The 1990 “It” Mini-Series Is Not as Scary as You Remember’ [Vulture]

If you’ve been thinking about revisiting the TV adaptation, Jen Chaney has some disappointing news for you. “Go back and view Curry as Pennywise in action in ‘It’ as he assumes a gravelly, New York-ish accent while referring to one of his first victims as ‘bucko,’” she writes, “and you might be like, ‘You know what? I could definitely take this joker in an underground sewer fight.’”

Read these articles if you’ve also read the book or want to know more about it

‘Stephen King’s “It” Parade’ [The Booklist Reader]

The author Daniel Kraus revisited King’s lengthy book in a multiweek series. He writes: “There is just so much in ‘IT.’ So many characters, so many incidents, so many disasters, so much physical and emotional pain. ‘IT’ is about growing up — it cuts between the characters as adolescents and as adults — and something about this theme further blurs the line of fiction and reality. Are these my memories? Or King’s inventions? Or is there a third option, which is no less than the magic of books: Because King invented them, have they become my memories?”

'Where “It” Was: Rereading Stephen King’s “It” on Its 30th Anniversary’ [The Los Angeles Review of Books]

“Most people, when asked the identity of the big bad in King’s book, will answer ‘Pennywise the Clown’ or, if they’re a bit more initiated, they’ll say, ‘The eldritch horror that takes many forms but is most easily designated “It.”’ I would have answered the same. But rereading ‘It,’ one realizes that the primary enemy in this story of seven middle-school outcasts confronting a malevolent, shape-shifting, child-murdering entity that haunts their town every 27 years is the American power of sublimation.”