'It: Chapter Two' manages to entertain for nearly 3 hours and will be a huge box-office hit, but can feel too familiar

• "It: Chapter Two" is a blockbuster-sized horror movie that's entertaining for nearly three hours.
• But it's also a tad too familiar, as it covers a lot of ground we recently saw in 2017's "It."
• Bill Skarsgard is terrifying as the evil clown Pennywise and Bill Hader steals the show as both the movie's comic relief and heart.
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The Stephen King adaptation "It" was a box-office sensation two years ago, raking in $123 million domestically in its opening weekend, a record for a horror movie. It went on to make $700 million worldwide.

The upcoming sequel, "It: Chapter Two," is sure to capitalize on that popularity. In its most recent box-office forecast, Boxoffice Pro is projecting the movie to earn $119 million in the US when it opens this weekend, and that's the conservative estimate (Boxoffice Pro also notes that it could earn up to $140 million).

"'It: Chapter Two's' range continues to fluctuate," Boxoffice Pro senior analyst Shawn Robbins wrote. "But we still expect another blockbuster run in the grand scheme of things."

The movie captures a similar magic that spun the first movie into a major hit. But that's also this sequel's weakness.

READ MORE: 'It: Chapter Two' and 'Joker' will give Warner Bros. a boost at the box office after a terrible summer

The movie brings the Losers Club back together in the haunted town of Derry, Maine, 27 years from when the first movie left off. The kids are all grown up now and the success of "It" attracted some of Hollywood's best actors to play them, including James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, and Bill Hader.

When the characters, now long separated and living lives of their own, are called back to Derry, they soon recover repressed memories of their battle against the evil, supernatural clown Pennywise (played with just as much terror as before by Bill Skarsgard), who preys on the town's young children every 27 years.

"It: Chapter Two," directed by Andy Muschietti, is entertaining for nearly three hours, and is often far more funny than it is scary, thanks mainly to Bill Hader's portrayal of the adult Richie, who steals the show.

But a lot of the movie didn't work for me. Beverly (played as an adult by Jessica Chastain) was far more interesting in the year 1989 than she is now. The finale hinges on a "Nightmare on Elm Street"-type cliche in the fight to defeat Pennywise. And a love triangle subplot feels rushed at best and unearned at worst.

"It: Chapter Two" also covers a lot of familiar ground. The entire middle portion of the movie centers on the characters revisiting places from their childhood, and the finale plays out similarly to the first "It."

Given the nature of the source material - King's nearly 1,200 page novel - splitting the movie into two parts like this was essential. And the popularity of "It" reinforced that decision. But "It: Chapter Two" feels like a movie that is trying to exploit years-old nostalgia, while also capitalizing on the very recent success of its predecessor. The familiarity of it all might not be as jarring if this were a long-awaited follow-up. But it's not.

Still, "It: Chapter Two" is fun, and best watched in a crowded theater where the energy will be palpable.

While the humor often overpowers the horror, it's still an overall grotesque and weird movie, even moreso than the original. And like I said, Hader is an absolute scene stealer, acting as both the movie's main comic relief and its heart.

Muschietti has crafted a blockbuster-sized, tentpole horror movie that will surely give Warner Bros. the box-office boost it needs after a lackluster summer.