Warner Bros.’ Conjuring universe might be the highest-grossing horror franchise in history having earned over $1.9 billion at the box office, but paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren aren’t the stars of the most commercially successful installment. That honor belongs to Corin Hardy’s spinoff The Nun, which hauled in $365 million on a $22 million budget after being released in September 2018.
Despite being the biggest hit in the shared horror mythology, The Nun also holds the unwanted distinction of being the worst-reviewed, with a current Rotten Tomatoes score of just 26% putting it bottom of the pile, below the 29% shared by Annabelle and The Curse of La Llorona. Of course, a poor critical reaction is no obstacle to marketable properties getting multiple sequels, and a follow-up to The Nun was first discussed by franchise architect James Wan a year before the movie even arrived.
Producer Peter Safran announced that The Nun would be back in April 2019, promising a fun storyline before Akela Cooper signed on to write the script shortly afterwards, with Bonnie Aarons confirmed to return as the title character. In the two years since, though, we’ve heard very little about the project, but Aarons recently admitted that she’s holding out hope that it happens sooner rather than later.
“I light a candle every day. I would love to jump back in that habit. I love that film and that character and that whole crew. I light a candle every day. I have to see what they wrote, you know, I hope it explores more of the depth of the demon. I think the demon came from the bowels of hell. We’ll see whatever it is. It’s Warner Bros. It’s going to be phenomenal. It’s New Line Cinema. Whatever they do is going to be phenomenal. They really know how to make a film over there.”
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is coming to theaters and HBO Max simultaneously in June, and if it keeps up the brand’s box office winning streak, then further spinoffs and sequels are inevitable. The Nun might not have been a particularly good film, but it was a hugely profitable one, so there’s every chance the second outing could start gathering some real momentum in the coming months.