The growing hunger for horror: Stephen King's 'It' breaks box office records

Moviegoers are filling theatres looking for a scare and, as a result,the recently released horror film It is breaking box office records across North America.

The Hollywood movie was released on Sept. 8 and, within the first weekend, grossed more than $123 million in North America alone. That's the highest ever opening for a horror film, said movie critic Rad Simonpillai.

A week later, the movie hasbrought in $371 million worldwide.

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"That's ground-breaking and it's also the highest opening ever for September," Simonpillai told CBC host of The Early Edition Rick Cluff. "For the year, it's right behind Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy [Vol.] 2."

Simonpillai said it is partly an improvement in the horror movie industry and partly nostalgia for classic horror films of the past that are drawing in crowds.

"Horror movies are pretty reliable because they are so cheaply made," he said. "You also now have studios being more adventurous and experimental and getting young directors who will play around with it that's why we're seeing this kind of growth."

Creepy clowns a staple

It, the latest adaptationof Stephen King's 1986 novel of the same name, tells the story of a group children fighting off a creepy clown.

Simonpillaitraced the movie's appeal back to previous films in the same genre that set the stage for this month's success.

Period pieces like The Conjuringfrom 2013, Simonpillaisaid, resulted in a growing desire for the "classic haunted house stuff"and the 2016 Netflix seriesStranger Things was a "Stephen King homage that has all the [horror] elements with a coming of age story."

"All of those things whet our appetite for a Stephen King movie," Simonpillai said.

And audiences, some showing up in clown make-up and costumes in theatres, are responding with a hunger for horror.

To listen to the full interview withRadSimonpillai, click on the audio link below:

With files from The Early Edition.