The Conjuring 4 has officially tapped the screenwriter of the previous two films to return for another terrifying outing. Although The Conjuring Universe has expanded to include films following such other supernatural threats as Annabelle and its two follow-up films, The Nun and its upcoming sequel, and The Curse of La Llorona, the core series is still going strong after debuting in 2013 with James Wan's The Conjuring, which was a massive hit, making $319.5 million off a budget of $20 million. All three Conjuring films follow the exploits of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, as played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.
The original Conjuring, which took place in 1970 and featured a cold open involving the haunted doll Annabelle, followed the couple to a secluded farmhouse with a dark past that was being beset by a terrifying entity. The 2016 sequel The Conjuring 2 followed them to a poltergeist-infested house in England in 1977 that is connected to a vision Lorraine had while investigating the Amityville hauntings a year before. The most recent entry, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It came in 2021, following the couple to 1981 as they attempt to rid an incarcerated young man of a demonic possession.
Per Deadline, the untitled sequel The Conjuring 4 has been officially confirmed with screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick tapped to return after writing both The Conjuring 2 (with Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes, and James Wan) and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Plot details are being kept under wraps on the new sequel, though it is confirmed that James Gunn and Peter Safran will return to produce the movie. At the time of writing, no director has been set for The Conjuring 4.
The Conjuring Universe's Future Is Brighter Than Ever
For some time, it was looking as though The Conjuring Universe was drying up. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It suffered from somewhat lukewarm box office by the franchise's standards, exacerbated by pandemic-shy audiences, a simultaneous HBO Max release, and a more mixed critical response in comparison to its predecessors. At the same, time many of the promised spinoffs and sequels - including The Crooked Man and The Nun 2 - were either failing to materialize or being significantly delayed.
However, this news about The Conjuring 4 shows that this paranormal franchise is still alive and kicking. Compounded with The Nun 2 making solid progress in its production after seeming to stall, there are now two Conjuring movies on the slate coming soon. It seems likely that there won't be news of any further entries until the studio can assess how both of these new projects are performing, but things are certainly looking brighter than they were even a few months ago for fans of The Conjuring Universe.
Source: Deadline