The Director’s Cut of It Will Reportedly Add Another 15 Minutes on Blu-Ray

The new adaptation of Stephen King’s It is a bonafide box office sensation, raking in more than $123 million in its opening weekend to more than double the largest horror film opening weekend of all time. We’ve already called the film proof of everything you don’t need to make a Hollywood blockbuster, but on home video we’ll be receiving even more of It and Pennywise—a director’s cut version that will reportedly add around another 15 minutes of footage.

Director Andy Muschietti spilled the beans in an interview with Yahoo, noting that the new material will help flesh out some of the time gaps in the film, as well as provide additional nuggets and details for super-fans of King’s classic novel. Those scenes could also include additional footage of Losers Club members Mike and Stan, whose characters didn’t feel quite as well-developed as some of the other kids. Said Muschietti:

“There’s a great scene, it’s a bit of a payoff of the Stanley Uris plot which is the bar mitzvah, where he delivers a speech against all expectations… it’s basically blaming all the adults of Derry [for the town’s history of deadly “accidents” and child disappearances], and it has a great resolution. … Maybe it will be in the director’s cut!”

Also possibly included: A “very funny” extension of the quarry swimming scene, in the portion where the group is trying to psych themselves up to jump off a high cliff into the water.

“After the spitting contest it escalates into something that is completely weird and irrelevant to the scene but is so funny,” Muschietti told Yahoo. “Jack Grazer, who plays Eddie, does something that is completely bonkers.”

At 2 hours and 15 minutes for the theatrical release, It was already substantially longer than most horror films, but fans will no doubt be thrilled to get a few more tidbits of the nightmare that is life in Derry. There’s no time yet specified for the release, but one would assume they’d probably like to get it out in time for Christmas sales. Meanwhile, the Muschiettis (Andy and his sister Barbara) are already hard at work on It: Chapter 2, which will return to the same characters as adults, as in King’s novel, when Pennywise returns after his 27-year slumber. The young members of the cast are reported to return in a limited fashion via flashbacks, but the real fun will undoubtedly be the speculation surrounding casting of the adult versions of the Losers Club.

The Muschiettis are also working on another King property, but not one from Stephen. They will begin production next month on Locke and Key, the Hulu adaptation of the much-praised comic series from King’s son Joe Hill, with Andy Muschietti directing as he did for It. Look for the Locke and Key adaptation to arrive in 2018.