Four films deep, The Conjuring universe is now widely considered to be a cornerstone of Hollywood’s horror scene. Not bad for a film franchise that flickered into life only four years ago.
In that time, James Wan (Aquaman) has delivered The Conjuring and its sequel, The Enfield Poltergeist, while director John R. Leonetti broke course to focus on the nightmarish little doll known as Annabelle. A worldwide haul in excess of $256 million was enough to warrant a sequel (read: Annabelle: Creation), which is now available via Blu-ray and DVD.
Not only was it another feather in New Line’s cap – Creation topped its predecessor’s haul by almost $50 million at the global box office – but David Sandberg’s chilling follow-up helped expand The Conjuring universe into uncharted territory. Next up? The Nun, though we’re now hearing that it’s been delayed, with the studio pushing it from July 13th to September 7th.
Why? One word: It. New Line’s Stephen King adaptation opened that same weekend in 2017 and went on to become a monster success at the box office. No one’s saying that the next chapter in The Conjuring franchise will hit those same heights, of course, but the studio’s clearly confident in that post-Labor Day weekend.
Set within the universe created by Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes, The Nun has tapped an all-star cast that includes Taissa Farmiga, the daughter of series stalwart Vera Farmiga (Lorraine Warren), while Demian Bichir, Bonnie Aarons, Charlotte Hope, Jonas Bloquet and Ingrid Bisu round out the ensemble.
Here’s the official logline, courtesy of WB:
The story centers on a young nun at a cloistered abbey in Romania taking her own life, with a priest with a haunted past and a novitiate on the threshold of her final vows sent by the Vatican to investigate. Together they uncover the order’s unholy secret and confront a malevolent force in the form of the same demonic nun from The Conjuring 2.
Directed by Corin Hardy, The Nun will be unleashed upon horror fans the world over on September 7th. Beyond that, there are also plans in place for a third Conjuring movie and The Crooked Man, neither of which have firm release dates at this time.
