History is littered with the bones of movies and franchises that tried to run before they could walk, shot their shot at building a shared universe, and failed miserably as a result. Nobody could have predicted it at the time, but maybe everyone should have focused less attention on Marvel and DC to place more on The Conjuring.
After all, James Wan’s supernatural smash hit has ended up snowballing into the single biggest horror property there’s ever been, with over $2.1 billion at the box office and counting. That number is about to rise exponentially with The Nun II releasing this coming Friday, with its predecessor the highest-grossing entry in the entire spooky saga to date.
When asked by The Hollywood Reporter for the secret ingredients to the mythology’s overwhelming appeal, Wan protege and Conjuring Universe regular Michael Chaves didn’t even try to maintain the mystery behind the multi-billion dollar phenomenon’s all-conquering nature.
“The movies are always scary, and they always deliver on that core experience. The other things that really make them work is that there’s a lot of heart in them. There are characters that you really love, and there’s also the element of faith. Faith is always an element that runs through these films — and sometimes more directly than others — but it’s the combination of those three things that’s the Holy Trinity of the universe.”
It sounds obvious, but we’ve seen plenty of blockbusters looking too far ahead and stumbling as a result, whereas The Conjuring has always been dealing with one story at a time, and there’s not even the slightest sign the well is beginning to run dry when it comes to audience appetite.
Published: Sep 6, 2023 02:06 am