Stephen King's It clocks in at a whopping 1,138 pages. The 1986 novel, which follows supernatural events in the fictional Maine town of Derry, spans over 30 years and two timelines—one taking place between 1957-1958, the second between 1984-1985. The first features its protagonists—a ragtag group of teenagers who call themselves the Losers' Club—battling a malevolent evil force that most often appears in the form of a clown called Pennywise. The second takes place three decades later, with those same characters, now adults, returning to defeat the monster once again.

It was made into a TV miniseries in 1990, which famously featured actor Tim Curry as Pennywise. The two-parter featured both ends of the story.

Andy Muschietti's big-screen adaptation, which opens in theaters on Friday, only features the first timeline; in the film, the year is changed to the summer of 1989. It's not out of the ordinary for film adaptations of long novels to be split into two (or more) movies. (See: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Hobbit.) It seems only natural that It's producers would milk the story for all its worth—and that's currently the plan.

In a July interview with Variety, Muschietti said that they plan on picking the story up again with an adult cast—and the film should begin production in March:

We are doing that. We'll probably have a script for the second part in January. Ideally, we would start prep in March. Part one is only about the kids. Part two is about these characters 30 years later as adults, with flashbacks to 1989 when they were kids.

And if that isn't enough of a confirmation for you, It has a pretty obvious clue at its very end. The film—which screened for critics this week—ends with the title card... And then the phrase "Chapter One" comes up on the screen, which is as good of a "To be continued..." as we need.

From: Esquire US