Comparative book vs movies: It- A Thing

There is a huge update on the time that the plot takes place. Instead of starting in 1958 and then returning in 1985 with the children already grown, the script already begins in 1988, with the children's cast.

In the book, when George is attacked by Pennywise, his arm is pulled out and the boy is found dead, with half in and half out of the manhole, by police officer Adam. This serves to make the police obsessed and notice the familiarity of the events 27 years later.

In the film, the boy goes down the manhole and Adam does not exist. This even opens up a gap for Bill to believe that his brother is still alive.

This will only be missed by the big fans of the original work.
Silver, Bill's bicycle, is a normal size in the film, and not as comically giant as in the book. In fact, all children have a bicycle, but that is probably why the film takes place in the 90s, where everyone had a bicycle.

Speaking of which, he also doesn't use the famous phrase “Aiô Silver”, reference to the Solitary Rider, which is also where the name of the bike comes from.

Another thing that only big fans will miss is for the kids to say “Beep, Beep, Richie to Richard. As the boy kept talking more than he should, they invented this, based on the road runner, to ask his friend to shut up.

There is a reference in just one moment in the film, but it is still needed.

The change of time in the film led to other changes along the plot and one of them was the “updated” photo album for slides.

The scene, which even appears in the trailers, was good, but there is a greater terror in a photo that moves and cuts off the children's finger.

Some of each child's first encounters with Coisa also change, as the script took the opportunity to explain the characters' past with these visions. Stan, Richie and Mike (who in the film lost their parents in a fire and lives with their grandfather) are the most affected by them.

Furthermore, Pennywise does not change according to the most recent fear as in the book, and remains in fear that it has more intensity, in the case that appears in the visions.

While in the book Patrick is the last to join Henry's gang and his behavior is well explored, in the film he appears right away only to die in his second scene.

He dies in Stephen King's work, but only after showing his psychosis. Patrick was a maniac, who even killed his younger brother when he was just 4 years old and was now killing animals from all over the neighborhood.

Perhaps because of censorship, the script for the feature film does not explore prejudices as well as the original work. While King is not afraid to dare and put parents openly hitting their children, children committing horrible acts of violence and calling Mike Creole when he chases him just for his color, the film ends up cutting a lot of these prejudices. The plot still focuses on that, but it gets pretty mild.

By the way, Henry doesn't break Eddie's arm, he breaks when he falls from the second floor of a house where they are attacked.

One of the most glaring changes in the film is when the children give up chasing the Thing, but end up changing their mind when Bev is caught by the creature and they set out to rescue it.

A lot changes in this scene, including the fact that Pennywise remains in the form of a clown (a big relief for arachnophobes).
Bev also stars in a scene that references one from the future in the book, when Bill's wife is captured and floats. In that case, Bev assumes the role.

The much talked about turtle, which is mentioned for a long time in the original work to be explained only at the end, is not explored in the film.

There are some mentions to her, including lego dolls and comments, but they are just references, the creature that serves as a good side for Pennywise is left out of the feature.

There is a controversial scene in Stephen King's book that is always removed from adaptations, for a very obvious reason. In the original work, after fighting with Pennywise the children weaken their gifts - each one had an interesting skill, such as a great notion of tracking - and end up lost in the middle of a place that will fall apart. The solution found by Bev was to rekindle the connection between them and the only way she could think of was having sex ... with all of them!

Of course, this childish orgy does not appear in any of the films, certainly for moral reasons. A scene with several children having sex would not be well regarded in the cinema, in addition to being a complicated exposure for a child cast.