When it comes to horror sequels, it’s rare to find one that’s actually better than the first. It happens, to be sure, but it’s not often, which is why James Wan’s The Conjuring 2 was such a delightful surprise. Though the original set the bar incredibly high, raking in $318 million at the box office and solidifying itself as one of the scariest films we’ve seen in years, the director’s second outing with Ed and Lorraine Warren surpassed it. The sequel took in $320 million and like its predecessor, found much praise from fans and critics alike.
Shockingly, The Conjuring 3 hasn’t been officially announced just yet, but we all know it’s coming. What we don’t know, however, is if Wan will make his way back behind the camera, given his current commitments to the DC Extended Universe. Wan or no Wan though, Warner Bros. isn’t about to let this franchise fizzle out and even though they’re already delivering spinoffs to us in the form of Annabelle and The Nun, a proper threequel can’t be too far out.
What direction a third Conjuring film could head in is unclear, but the filmmakers certainly won’t be hard pressed to find inspiration, as the Warrens took part in many, many cases and investigations and in a recent interview with Cinema Blend, producer Peter Safran said that they’re definitely not going to make another haunted house movie – which is a smart decision, given that we’ve already seen that twice now.
“There are some [cases] that maybe aren’t as well known, but they spent a fair bit of time researching and were part of [them]. Clearly we can’t do another haunted house movie, right? We can’t do another supernatural possession in a house, with a family in peril. Right? So, it’s got to be something different than that, I think.”
Again, not going down the haunted house route is definitely the right move here, but that begs the question: what’s going to form the basis of The Conjuring 3? In the past, Wan has mentioned that if the film were to happen, it’d be set in the 1980s, but aside from that, we really haven’t had any clues as to what ideas might be brewing about for the threequel. It’s probably just a matter of time though until the studio makes some kind of official announcement and once they do, we’ll be sure to let you know.
