Spoilers of course follow for all the films released to date!
The Conjuring Universe Explained: The Basics
The Conjuring Universe is a series of horror films centered around or connected to the exploits of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. Technically, that makes these movies "inspired by true events," though many would obviously dispute the authenticity of those cases. Regardless, it's clear from the impressive critical and commercial success of the series that plenty of moviegoers are eager for more paranormal adventures.The main Conjuring series focuses on the Warrens as they investigate haunted houses and do their best to protect the families who live there. The original film also introduced Ed Warren's "artifact room," a place where the Warrens display cursed souvenirs from past cases. That room is basically the glue holding this shared universe together, as the various spinoff films like Annabelle use those souvenirs as springboards for new horror adventures. There's no single, driving storyline linking these films, but they all intersect as they tell the story of ordinary people confronting terrifying paranormal forces.The Conjuring Universe Movies
To date there have been seven Conjuring universe films, including Annabelle Comes Home.- The Conjuring universe was born when the original The Conjuring hit theaters in 2013. That film is based on a 1971 case where the Warrens investigated a haunted farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island.
- The series received its first spinoff the following year in the form of Annabelle. This prequel focused on the titular haunted doll first introduced in The Conjuring, ultimately leading directly into the events of the original film.
- The Conjuring Universe continued with The Conjuring 2 in 2016. A direct sequel to the original, The Conjuring 2 jumped ahead to 1977 and adapted an infamous London haunting that's come to be known as "The Enfield Poltergeist." This sequel also introduced a demonic entity called Valak that's come to play a recurring role in the series.
- The next big entry in the Conjuring series is Annabelle: Creation, a prequel to the first Annabelle set in the 1950s. Creation explores the true origin of the haunted doll (effectively retconning the events of Annabelle in the process). This film also spawned a contest where filmmakers were asked to craft a short movie in the spirit of the Conjuring Universe. The winner of that contest - Julian Terry's "The Nurse" - was officially made part of The Conjuring canon.
- The Conjuring series expanded even further thanks to the feature spinoff version of The Nun (about the demon Valak from The Conjuring 2).
- In 2019, The Curse of La Llorona was released. The film is a spinoff featuring the character Father Perez from Annabelle.
- Annabelle Comes Home was also released in 2019, continuing the story of the fearsome titular doll.
The Conjuring Universe: Origin and Background
The Conjuring Universe isn't the first movie franchise to be built around the case files of Ed and Lorraine Warren. The duo are probably best known for their investigation of the Amityville haunting, a case that inspired the 1979 film The Amityville Horror and its numerous sequels and spinoffs. Decades before The Conjuring came to life, Ed Warren approached producer Tony DeRosa-Grund about turning another of their cases into a film. DeRosa-Grund wrote a screenplay based on Warren's audio tape recordings of the Harrisville, RI, incident, but progress stalled on the project for a number of years.Writers Chad and Carey Haynes later refined DeRosa-Grund's original screenplay, including making the critical change that the film be centered around the Warrens themselves rather than the Perron family, the owners of the haunted house in Rhode Island. That change seemed to give The Conjuring the spark it needed, and the project finally landed at New Line Cinema in 2009. Saw series co-creator James Wan was hired to direct, while Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga were cast as Ed and Lorraine Warren, respectively.The Conjuring wound up earning $318 million at the worldwide box office, enough to make it one of the most profitable horror films since The Blair Witch Project. Unsurprisingly, New Line immediately moved forward with sequels and spinoff projects, with Wan serving as a producer and general guiding force for the growing franchise. To date, the various films in the series have accumulated a total of over $1.2 billion at the global box office, with several new movies in various stages of development.
The Conjuring Universe: What's Next
Currently, New Line is several new additions to the Conjuring Universe.The newest release in the Conjuring franchise is Annabelle Comes Home, the third entry in the Annabelle spinoff series. This sequel will be the first Annabelle feature to star Wilson and Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren and will take place concurrently with the original film. The plot deals with the malevolent doll unleashing its power from inside the Warren household, threatening the lives of their child and her babysitters. Gary Dauberman directed the film.An actual The Conjuring 3 is also in the works. Initially, Wan has speculated that the setting might shift to the 1980s and deal with werewolves. However, we now know that the film will focus on Ed and Lorraine Warren defending a man on trial for murder, struggling to prove he was possessed by a demon during the act. Wan will only produce this sequel, with The Curse of La Llorona's Michael Chaves taking over as director.New Line is also moving forward with The Crooked Man, a spinoff featuring another supernatural entity introduced in The Conjuring 2. It's unknown exactly where this film will fall in the Conjuring timeline, but Mike Van Waes is penning a screenplay based on a story treatment by Wan, and the tone is reportedly more fairy tale-like than other films in the franchise.
Finally, The Nun 2 is in the early stages of development. Akela Cooper (Luke Cage) is writing the screenplay, with Peter Safran and James Wan producing.
Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.Explained!
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