Long in development, a big screen adaptation of Stephen King's IT is finally ready to move forward. Production will begin this summer, with True Detective director Cary Fukunaga set to take the helm. The news was confirmed by producer Dan Lin. He had this to say about the upcoming horror thriller:

"The idea is to start official prep in March for a summer shoot. Cary likes to develop things for a while, and we've been with this for about three or four years, so we're super excited that he stayed with it. You guys are gonna be really excited."

IT was previously adapted for an ABC miniseries in the 90s. Dan Lin believes there's more to the story than what fans saw there. The hope is to split the movie into two parts. He states:

"The book is so epic that we couldn't tell it all in one movie and service the characters with enough depth."

The first half of IT will be a coming of age story about a group of children who are tormented by the title entity. The second movie will move forward in time, with these same characters now older and banding together to continue their fight against IT as adults. Right now, Cary Fukunaga is only confirmed for the first movie. He is currently closing his deal to direct the second half. Dan Lin says that author Stephen King is more excited than anyone about the movie coming together:

"The most important thing is that Stephen King gave us his blessing. We didn't want to make this unless he felt it was the right way to go, and when we sent him the script, the response that Cary got back was, 'Go with God, please! This is the version the studio should make.' So that was really gratifying."