'The Conjuring' Spinoff 'Annabelle 3' Gets New Release Date

Warner Bros. has moved the release date of The Conjuring spinoff film Annabelle 3. The threequel was supposed to release on July 3rd, but will now hit theaters a week earlier, on June 28th.

As THR reports, Annabelle 3's release date shift comes as part of a general shuffle of upcoming movies at Warner Bros., including LeBron James' Space Jam 2, and the Godzilla vs. Kong crossover film.

Shifting Annabelle 3 to June 28th will basically give Warner Bros. an extended jump on the July 4th holiday, which is probably a smart move. Horror movies have been some of the biggest box office draws of the last few years, and a highly-anticipated franchise threequel like Annabelle 3 would definitely have the holdover to reap big profits over opening weekend, and then the mid-week July 4th holiday, and well into the second weekend of release. The only real immediate competition for something like Annabelle 3 will be the Child's Play reboot, which releases on June 21st; after the lackluster reaction to that film's first trailer, Warner Bros. is (literally) banking on the idea that Annabelle 3 will swiftly slaughter interest in its genre competitor. And it's a fairly safe bet.

Annabelle 3 will be a kind of horror version of Night at the Museum, and the franchise's most extensive crossover with its Conjuring parent series. The storyline will see the Annabelle doll escape from the room of haunted artifacts that Conjuring demon hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren keep locked away in their house. Annabelle will be like a battery of evil, powering the various other evil entities in the room - an overflow of supernatural horror that writer-director Gary Dauberman teases will be an event worth watching:

"It's what happens when Annabelle comes into the artifact room. Much like Swamp Thing, what happens when Annabelle comes into the artifact room and how she affects her environment."

Caught in the crossfire will be a significant character from the Conjuring series: Ed and Lorraine's teenage daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace), who is home with two other young characters - while Ed and Lorraine are off on some other kind of mission. Naturally, the evil entities locked up in the Warrens' house want payback - making Judy the one who has to pay for her parents' good deeds:

"[She] really awakens the evil within that room and [the evil targets] the Warrens' 10-year-old daughter, Judy," Dauberman teases.

As stated, you can now catch Annabelle 3 in theaters on June 28th.

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