Bill Hader Shares Daughter’s Brutally Honest Opinion on Stephen King Sequel ‘It: Chapter Two’

Premiering in 2017, Andy Muschietti’s It was an updated take on the Stephen King adaptation that first hit the small screen in 1990. Starring the likes of Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, Sophia Lillis as Beverly Marsh, and Finn Wolfhard as Richie Tozier, the film was met with an overwhelmingly positive response from both fans and critics. Two years later, It: Chapter 2 debuted, featuring the kids from Derry all grown up, with Bill Hader taking on the role of an adult Tozier. It wasn’t nearly as well received as the first entry, including by one of Hader’s daughters, whose hilarious reaction to the movie was definitely the right take on things.

Appearing on the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast hosted by Ted Danson, Hader revealed that It: Chapter 2 is the only movie of his that his kids “have ever been interested in seeing.” He said it pairs well with sleepovers, and is usually the go-to film for teens to put on to scare themselves silly before they fall asleep. When Hader’s daughter finally got the chance to see it, however, the 46-year-old star said she wasn’t too impressed.

‘It’ Was Far Superior to the 2019 Sequel

Taking in more than $704 million in box office receipts, 2017’s It is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 85% rating from critics. The Popcornmeter is slightly below that at 84%, but it’s clear that everyone was unanimous in their assessment of the movie, which featured tremendous performances from its young cast members, and renewed our fear of clowns thanks to Skarsgård’s take on Pennywise. Coming in at 2 hours and 15 minutes, it was the perfect length for Muschietti to convey his themes of trauma, friendship, and the nature of evil.

Clocking in at nearly three hours, It: Chapter 2 may have had a higher budget than its predecessor, but with a 62% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, proved that bigger doesn’t always mean better. It was fun for what it was, but it certainly didn’t match the aura of the first movie. It veered off in different directions, and – as MovieWeb’s own Julian Roman put it in his review – “ends up lacking cohesion.” While Hader’s performance wasn’t that bad, his daughter was definitely correct in proclaiming that the first movie was better.

While the It saga may be over, we definitely haven’t seen the last of Skarsgård as Pennywise, as he’ll be reprising the role in the upcoming HBO series Welcome to Derry. Acting as a prequel to King’s story, the show takes place 27 years before the events in It, and will be split into different timelines to once more showcase the different POVs between the children and their adult counterparts. No release date has been set, but all nine episodes are expected to debut at some point in 2025.

Release Date

September 4, 2019