It has been a decade sinceThe Conjuringsnuck up on moviegoers during the summer of 2013 and generated big frights along with big box office dollars. On its own, the film stands as one of the best horror films of the 2010s, but what couldn’t have been known to horror fans at the time was the world-building that was in store as this one movie would spark its own horror cinematic universe that has generated $2.1 billion at the global box office.
What makesThe Conjuringso much more appealing than some of its horror movie counterparts is that it has a connection to true, although dramatized, events. Ed and Lorraine Warren were real-life paranormal investigators who assisted people that claimed to be terrorized by spirits or demons. Their work resulted in thousands of cases that intrigued anyone interested in the supernatural or those who wanted to prove that the Warrens were frauds. Whether you believed them or not, the cases were prime for the big-screen treatment, and director James Wan, along with writers Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes, were the right people to kick all of this off.
The Warrens Are Essential to the Franchise’s Longevity
An integral part of the longevity of the franchise is the Warrens themselves.Patrick Wilson andVera Farmiga make this real-life couple accessible to the audience, and their effortless chemistry becomes the heart of the main series of films.
Most of their connection is really unspoken, but you fully understand that they are willing to step into the darkness, and they aren’t willing to do it without the other one present. You may not believe in the validity of their cases, but you do buy into their relationship, and they essentially become the fearless leaders that navigate the main thread of the universe.
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Bringing the case files of the Warrens to the big screen proved to be an endeavor that paid off becauseThe Conjuringbecame a massive hit upon release,grossing $319 million globallyagainst a $20 million budget. Reviews were also strong, with critics complimenting the film for its effective performances and chilling scares.
Living within this success was also the beginning of a connective tissue that would prove essential to expanding the universe of the franchise as it moved along. Fans were intrigued by the Warrens and their stash of past cases, along with creepy imagery that is exploited for all its terrifying glory.
The Conjuring, and ultimately its sequel,The Conjuring 2, introduced key spinoff concepts that existed alongside the main story.Annabelle, the possessed doll, is introduced during the first film’s prologue as a previous case the Warrens worked on when she was owned by two nursing students.
Eventually, the doll ends up in the Warrens' artifacts room which is full of haunted objects. Annabelle was merely a sub-character in the overall story, but her creepy design made her a memorable part of the film. The imagery was so strong that she was also featured on some posters to market the movie. The image and mystery behind her origin was enough to spark a spinoff franchise of its own.
2014’sAnnabelleserved as a prequel toThe Conjuringand explained how the Warrens came into possession of the doll. The film has its own story that ultimately builds to Annabelle, ending up in the hands of the nursing students in the prelude toThe Conjuring.
AlthoughAnnabellespins off from that first film, this franchise gets to create its own universe that dives into the origins of the evil doll (2017’sAnnabelle: Creation) and how the Warrens' daughter becomes a target of the doll’s evil (2019’sAnnabelle Comes Home). Across three movies, theAnnabellebranch ofThe Conjuring Universehas grossed $790 million worldwide.
The Conjuring 2 Introduces a New Evil to Expand the Universe
The Conjuring 2introduced audiences to another evil entity that would soon become the face of its own franchise as well. InThe Conjuring 2, the Warrens visit the Hodgson family, who are being terrorized by a poltergeist that gets its origins from the real-life Enfield Haunting case.
The second-oldest child is possessed by the spirit of an elderly man, but it’s soon revealed that the man is being used as a pawn by a much more terrifying demon. The demon in question is Valak, an evil nun that comes from the very depths of hell. Although Valak was condemned back to hell by the Warrens, the imagery of Valak, much like Annabelle, became intriguing for moviegoers, and this was enough to expand the universe even further.
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Much like wanting to know how Annabelle came to be, fans were curious about the origins of Valak, and thus 2018’sThe Nunwas born. The audience gets to see how Valak came to be, and at the end of the film, we’re taken back toThe Conjuringin a scene that we saw from the first film where Ed and Lorraine Warren present footage at a university seminar of their attempt to exorcise a demon out of a possessed man. Much like the Annabelle films,The Nunwas also highly successful financially, with a gross of $365 million worldwide on a budget of $22 million. The box windfall of that project was enough to garner a sequel,The Nun II,which hits screens on September 8.
All of this shared universe began ten years ago when James Wan just sought to make a stand-alone haunted house possession tale that balanced scares, performances, and story in equal measure. Whether it was on purpose or not, many other tales of haunting could be exploited, and what has madeThe Conjuring Universeso successful is that it appears the world of these films has been built organically.
The spinoffs do a good enough job of explaining how it’s all linked while the mainConjuringfranchise has been able to continue to thrive on its own without suffering due to the universe-building.A fourthConjuringfilm,The Conjuring: Last Rites, is in development with Wilson and Farmiga returning, while an untitled television series in the franchise is also in the works.
The expansion ofThe Conjuring Universeseems endless, and who would’ve thought this would all take off merely by planting a few terrifying seeds that would grab the attention of horror fans all over the world?
