Hearing news of an unreleased film being spun into a franchise could easily halt the gong of your little cinema heart. How can a title which has yet to even be seen by audiences be worthy of a franchise? Keep your eye rolls at bay, because The Conjuring has already received phenomenal word of mouth, based on a handful of screenings. Yes, this means that New Line Cinema, the studio behind the flick, are developing a sequel.
Based around the true life investigations of utterly fearless husband and wife duo, Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), The Conjuring selects one particularly terrifying incident with a family and their haunted farmhouse. The couples’ work has been featured in numerous haunted horror flicks before; their most famous of course was The Amityville Horror. A sequel or franchise based around their brushes with the Other Side sound actually like a big screen version of Supernatural. But without Sam and Dean.
If you dare wander onto message boards for The Conjuring, prepare to be caught in a giant web of spittle from fans of the Warrens. Not only are they a hot topic for diehards, but for New Line president Toby Emmerich too. He thinks they’re onto a damn fine thing here as he told Variety:
“This is as good a horror movie as we’ve ever made….We think it will have great playability. We have Lorraine’s permission and support, and we are working on developing another film.”
Director James Wan’s Insidious sequel rolls out later this Summer, with The Conjuring marking his next-to-last foray into horror for some time. However this creepy series continues, it’s unlikely Wan will be on board in a directing capacity as his slate is busy with Fast and Furious 7. Carey Hayes and Chad Hayes, the writers of the original who interviewed Lorraine to make the project as authentic as possible, are back to pen the sequel.
The idea of an episodic big screen jaunt based on THE paranormal investigators of our time sounds like a winner all round. Is it gonna be scary? Previews suggest yes. Is it gonna rake in huge piles of cash? Predictions suggest yes.
Looks like this Summer won’t be the last we’ll hear from The Conjuring, which opens in the US July 19th. Great, more sleepless nights ahead.
