The American supernatural horror film "It" directed by Andy Muschietti, and based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Stephen King, brought in a massive $123.4 million during its opening weekend alone, shattering records while becoming the biggest film premiere of all time in the horror genre.
Although avid movie-goers may be excited about the new horror film starring Swedish actor Bill Skarsgard as a child-killing clown, one group appears to view the movie's success with its own brand of horror: professional clowns.
Even before the release of the movie, the World Clown Association [yes, such a thing exists] issued a warning that the film could cause clowns to lose job opportunities.
Some UK clowns have already expressed that they have experienced damaging effects since the release of the movie.
"There's definitely a negativity to the industry," said South Wales-based clown Alan Paget.
"Last year, especially, was really bad and I can only see it getting worse," he added.
Paget said that he frequently gets phone calls from nervous parents.
"I get phone calls and messages on social media asking: ‘Are you a scary clown?' It's getting to the stage where it's ridiculous," he said.
"Sometimes I feel like saying ‘well, you'll find out in your nightmares,'" he added, cited by The Guardian.
But the honorary secretary of Clowns International, Ian Williams, stated that professional entertainers who dress and act in the manner of traditional show-business clowns are overstating their fear.
"A load of the folks who say ‘this is terrible for the industry' have been clowning for about five minutes — they've not been through this before," said Williams, cited by The Guardian.
"It's not going to kill off clowning. ‘It' [as a TV miniseries adaptation starring Tim Curry] came out 27 years ago. I was clowning then, I'm still clowning now," he confirmed.
