The extended Conjuring universe is arguably the biggest brand in horror right now, with the succession of sequels and spinoffs bringing in huge box office numbers and so far largely avoiding the law of diminishing returns that plagues the majority of the genre’s other long-running brands.
To date, the seven installments have raked in over $1.9 billion at the box office on combined production costs of less than $140 million, which also makes it one of the most profitable enterprises in the entire industry. And when The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It arrives next year after being delayed, takings are guaranteed to soar past the two billion dollar mark.
The first spinoff out of the gate was Annabelle, putting The Conjuring‘s creepy doll front and center. It may have earned $172 million globally, but the critical reaction was less than enthusiastic. As a result, journeyman director John R. Leonetti wasn’t invited back for sequel Annabelle: Creation, with rising star David F. Sandberg taking his place instead.
Sandberg had broken out in a big way with his feature debut Lights Out and reinforced his credentials as one of horror’s best up-and-coming talents after helming the Annabelle follow-up, which made more money than its predecessor at the box office and scored the best reviews that the franchise had seen outside of the first two Conjuring movies.
Still, as a film that’s already several years old, it’s a bit surprising to find out that Annabelle: Creation is proving to be a huge hit on Netflix today, where it currently ranks as the ninth most-watched pic on the streaming service on the global charts. What its sudden popularity can be attributed to, that we don’t know, but it just goes to show that subscribers will always want to be scared out of their seats no matter how comfortable they are.
