A new Annabelle movie is on the way, and will see the devilish doll bringing the other artifacts in the Warrens' collection to life and terrorizing their daughter, Judy Warren. Annabelle 3 (not the official title) was announced during the ScareDiego preview event at San Diego Comic-Con 2018, with director Gary Dauberman and producer James Wan on the scene to tease the next terrifying chapter in The Conjuring's offshoot franchise.
After her story was first touched upon briefly in The Conjuring, Annabelle's creepy appeal earned her a spinoff movie in 2014, which was followed by Annabelle: Creation in 2017. So far the movie's have been going back in time, with the first showing Annabelle's recent escapades before joining the supernatural collection of ghost-hunting couple Ed and Lorraine Warren, and Creation revealing the dolls origins and setting up the events of the first movie. However, Annabelle 3 will finally move forward in time and explore Annabelle's antics while in the custody of the Warrens.
Related: Here's How The Nun Connects To Annabelle & The Conjuring
According to the panel, the movie will be set shortly before the events of The Conjuring, showing what happened when the Warrens first brought the doll back and stashed her in their occult museum. In their careers as supernatural investigators, Ed and Lorraine have amassed a collection of cursed objects that they keep locked up together in a room in their house (which is really just asking for trouble), and the third movie will see the demon that possesses the Annabelle doll bringing the other artifacts to life, Night at the Museum style. While that might sound like fun, the results are probably going to be pretty terrifying.
The Conjuring was a massive hit upon its release in 2013, grossing $319 million worldwide with a modest production budget of $20 million, and from that initial success New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. have been building an entire cinematic universe of Conjuring movies. Also showcased at ScareDiego this year was The Nun, which is out later this year and will reveal the origins of the horrific demon nun who was introduced in The Conjuring 2 and seen again in Annabelle: Creation's post-credits scene.
Like the other stories in the Conjuring universe, the Annabelle movies are loosely based on the real case files of the Warrens, and there is actually a real version of the doll who still lives in the Warrens' occult museum. Whether or not the doll was ever actually possessed by a demon is considerably less certain, but at least her story has served up some pretty scary movies.
