The evil vintage doll from The Conjuring is back and creepier than ever in new images from Annabelle: Creation. Despite appearing in only the first scene in the 2013 horror hit The Conjuring, the ghoulish doll Annabelle made such a monstrous impression on audiences that Warner Bros. was compelled to give the possessed inanimate object her own prequel movie, simply titled Annabelle, in 2014. Budgeted at a mere $6.5 million, Annabelle made a killing at the box office, pulling in $84.2 domestically and $172.6 million overseas for a whopping global take of $256.8 million.
Three years later, the evil plaything is back with another prequel tale that's set before the events of the 2014 film. The story surrounds a doll maker and his wife, who several years after the death of their young daughter, welcome a nun and several girls from an old orphanage into their home. But in the house is the doll maker's demonically possessed creation Annabelle, who targets the dwelling's new inhabitants.
To keep the buzz rolling leading up the August 11 release of the Annabelle: Creation, the studio just released two new stills from the film to accompany the first image released in January. The photos, which feature two of its young co-stars, Talitha Bateman and Lulu Wilson, scream atmosphere (just like the film's first trailer), if not for any other reason the presence of the very creepy looking titular character.
[vn_gallery name="Annabelle: Creation Images" id="993123"]
Annabelle, of course, is based on one of the real-life case files of demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren (Wilson and Farmiga), who took possession of the object (which in reality was a Raggedy Ann doll) to shelter along with other possessed objects from the outside world. Apart from The Conjuring and Annabelle, the movie version of the doll also appeared in a brief cameo (still encased in a glass cabinet in the Warren's Occult Museum) at the conclusion of The Conjuring 2 .
Based on the successes of The Conjuring, its sequel, and Annabelle, Warner Bros. has definitely tapped into something special with the horror franchise. Just the sight of Annabelle in Annabelle: Creation is enough to induce nightmares, and it would be a shock if the film isn't a hit like its predecessors. Like the first Annabelle film, Creation will likely have a micro budget, yet, with a director like David F. Sandberg at the helm, it will have the sort of polished quality associated with bigger budget horror flicks. Sandberg has certainly proven his worth to Warner Bros. before, helming Lights Out, which earned an astounding $148.8 million worldwide last year against a miniscule $4.8 million budget.
No matter how Annabelle: Creation does at the box office, there will be plenty more Conjuring-inspired scares on the way, including The Nun (based on the character in The Conjuring 2), which is being released in 2018, as well as a Crooked Man spinoff from the Conjuring sequel.
Where Annabelle: Creation Fits in The Conjuring Movie Timeline
Source: Warner Bros.
