Horror movie It has shattered box office records, hauling in US$179 million (NZ$246.5 million) at the global box office on its opening weekend.
The remake of the Stephen King story is also a winner with critics, sitting currently at 87 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, 70 percent on Metacritic and scoring a B+ Cinemascore.
It has set the opening weekend record for any movie released in the US between Labor Day and November and the biggest debut ever for a horror movie - putting Paranormal Activity in second place and The Conjuring in third.
- Stephen King wasn't prepared for how good new It is
- It now terrifying fans in virtual reality with It: Float VR
Hollywood has been suffering its worst (Northern) box office summer since 1997, despite the successes of Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.
The horror genre has enjoyed a solid season, however. It's enormous opening follows Get Out and Split both topping US$250 million (NZ$344 million) worldwide and Annabelle: Creation approaching US$300 million (NZ$413 million).
The success is being heralded by horror fans, hopeful it'll trigger more high-budget, R-rated horror movies.
"It has saved fans from continually being served fast-food horror," writes Brad Miska at Bloody Disgusting.
"Hollywood is reactionary and It has saved us from the terrors of under-budgeted genre films; this massive opening is a signal to the executives that people will show up for high-quality horror productions."
New Zealand box office results from the weekend will be released later on Monday.
Newshub.
