Despite virtually every major studio attempting to piggyback on the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, very few shared mythologies exist in the horror genre. Universal’s Dark Universe was an abject failure that deservedly imploded at the very first hurdle, but Warner Bros. struck gold when they decided to expand the world introduced in The Conjuring.
The series of sequels and spinoffs now rank among one of the most bankable properties in the industry, with box office takings just shy of $2 billion making The Conjuring Universe the single highest-grossing horror franchise in history. The third installment in the main saga and eighth effort overall, The Devil Made Me Do It, may have been pushed back until next summer, but you can guarantee that the Warren family will be back with a vengeance.
In James Wan’s The Conjuring 2, Bonnie Aarons’ Valak was pushed to the forefront of the mythology, and the demonic nun even got her own spinoff movie which became the biggest earner in the entire franchise. However, Valak wasn’t always going to be the main antagonist of the sequel, and new BTS photos have revealed the original designs for the big bad, which you can check out below.
Whatever that thing is, it certainly looks a lot more terrifying than Valak. It would have been quite something to see the hulking animatronic design in full motion, but the decision was made to head in another direction, which worked out pretty well given that The Nun ended up earning over $365 million at the box office. With the franchise set to continue for a long time yet, though, maybe a future installment could dust off The Conjuring 2‘s unused demon and put it to good use.
Published: Oct 23, 2020 07:21 am