Warner Bros.’ Conjuring universe is the highest-grossing horror franchise in the history of cinema having earned over $1.9 billion across its seven installments so far, and even with the lingering effects of the Coronavirus still in play and a simultaneous HBO Max release, third outing in the main series The Devil Made Me Do It will comfortably see the property sail past $2 billion when it arrives seven weeks from today.
There’s no chance of the studio giving up on The Conjuring and its various sequels, prequels and spinoffs when they’ve all proven so successful, and there’s both a follow-up to The Nun and a standalone feature focusing on the Crooked Man currently in development, although we haven’t heard much from either project since they were first announced.
Of course, the strongest reviews by far belong to the first two Conjuring movies, with James Wan’s duo holding Rotten Tomatoes scores of 85% and 81% respectively. The filmmaker might not be behind the camera for The Devil Made Me Do It, but his protege Michael Chaves cut his teeth on the franchise’s The Curse of La Llorona, so it looks to be in good hands.
One very important ingredient to the success of the Conjuring has been the lead performances from Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, and it can’t be stated enough how having two hugely talented actors anchoring a heightened horror mythology has been a benefit to the ongoing adventures. In a new interview, Farmiga made it clear she’d love to stick around for a while longer, too, saying:
“Oh my god, I’d love to. It’s interesting, we have to up the fear in each one. Demonology is already so high-pitched and operatic.”
Wilson echoed those sentiments, even if he’s set to make his directorial debut on another horror property when he helms the fifth Insidious.
“We constantly want to push these characters. I would like to, for no other reason than I would want to keep playing opposite Vera.”
The marketing campaign for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is going to ramp up in the very near future, and while a summer release for a big name horror is fairly unusual, it’s set to draw in big crowds nonetheless.