It: Welcome to Derry Debuts Third-Biggest Premiere

It: Welcome to Derry’s animated opening credits, set to the 1950s song "A Smile and A Ribbon," peel back postcard-perfect 1960s Derry to reveal horrific tableaux including the Ironworks explosion, Neibolt Street, Juniper Hill, Paul Bunyan and Pennywise imagery. Creator Andy Muschietti and production studio Filmograph described the sequence as a “descent into dread,” and the credits have been widely praised, though some outlets speculated about possible AI use. HBO released Episode 2 early for Halloween, and the series has debuted as HBO’s third-biggest show launch ever. The second episode escalates gore and surreal horror — continuing the Capitol Theatre massacre aftermath, featuring shocking dreamlike set pieces (including a grotesque “birth” and a reassembling-body sequence) and the first close glimpse of Pennywise’s eyes — as the surviving children begin to regroup. A parallel Cold War subplot, Operation Precept, is introduced, bringing Major Leroy Hanlon and Dick Hallorann into a military dig hunting a buried “fear” weapon after finding skeletal corpses.