Stephen King adaptations continued to thrive in 2025, with both the number and quality of releases being notably strong. While the year started with a less successful adaptation, The Monkey (receiving a 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes), things quickly improved. Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck earned an impressive 80% approval rating, and The Long Walk did even better with 88%. King also found success on television, as the first season of MGM+’s The Institute received a generally positive 64% rating. Now, another well-received adaptation has arrived, further adding to King’s successful year.
The new HBO series, IT: Welcome to Derry, which continues the story from the IT movies released in the 2010s, premieres this Sunday. Early reviews are in, and as of today, Season 1 has an 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is designated as “Certified Fresh.” Based on 35 reviews, the series is receiving positive feedback and adds to the overall success Stephen King has seen this year with adaptations of his work.
IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1 Reviews Call It A Worthy Prequel
Reviews for IT: Welcome to Derry, even those that weren’t entirely positive, consistently highlight its success in building upon the established story and the character of Pennywise. Marco Vito Oddo of ComicBook gave the series a 3 out of 5, appreciating how it deepened the town’s history and connected to other works by Stephen King, but noted some issues with the CGI and the show’s pacing. Discussing Film rated it 4 out of 5, praising its ability to explore the complex world Stephen King created – something the previous films didn’t have enough time to do – and calling it a worthwhile addition to the story.
I have to admit, not everyone loved the new IT: Welcome to Derry series, and some reviews were pretty harsh. The Daily Beast went so far as to call it the worst Stephen King adaptation they’d seen in ages, even saying it did a disservice to the massive book it’s based on. FandomWire thought it would have worked much better as a single movie instead of a streaming series, feeling like it just lacked energy. And TheWrap? They were particularly critical, suggesting it felt too much like a copy of Stranger Things.
Even though opinions on the series IT: Welcome to Derry have been varied – some positive, many negative – it currently has a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, like most Stephen King adaptations released this year. And there’s more King content on the way: Edgar Wright’s remake of The Running Man, starring Glen Powell, is coming out in November. Wright’s films consistently receive high scores – never below 75% on Rotten Tomatoes – so this new adaptation is likely to continue the recent success of King’s work.
Read More
- Best Season 10 PvE Build in New World: Aeternum
- Gold Rate Forecast
- BTC PREDICTION. BTC cryptocurrency
- Silver Rate Forecast
- Valheim coming to PS5 in 2026
- DC’s Canceled Batgirl Movie Gets a Surprisingly Hopeful Update, 3 Years After Warner Bros Pulled The Plug
- Spider-Man 4: Kirsten Dunst Reveals if She’d Return as Mary Jane Watson
- I’m Living For George Clooney Admitting To The Internet He Got Wildly Drunk At The Tonys
- BTC AUD PREDICTION. BTC cryptocurrency
- Skate 4 – How to Christ Air | Redemption Air
2025-10-22 21:10