Annabelle Comes Homes Brings in $3.5 Million in Preview Screenings

Annabelle Comes Homes posted solid numbers in its preview night screenings for its mid-week release. The third Annabelle movie and sixth in the Conjuring franchise took in $3.5 million on Tuesday night, planting it ahead of the respective preview night openings for both of the Conjuring movies before it.

Annabelle Comes Home's $3.5 million is well ahead of the original Annabelle movie's $2.1 million preview night haul. It does land behind Annabelle: Creation's $4 million preview night which was on a Thursday and The Nun's $5.4 million preview Thursday, as well. With a third Conjuring movie on the way, it's likely the franchise's often positive buzz will set a new preview night record with its flagship title making a comeback. The Nun, however, currently holds the entire run record for the franchise with a total haul of $365.6 million.

Going into the weekend, Annabelle Comes Home has its work cut out with stiff competition. Gary Dauberman's directorial debut will be going head to head with Yesterday's opening weekend, along with Toy Story 4's second outing and a re-release of Avengers: Endgame which is adding extra footage to the massive Marvel flick.

"The key is to make each one feel different," Annabelle Comes Home executive producer James Wan tells ComicBook.com in the video above. "And I think that's very important, so when you create this world, it doesn't start to feel stale. It doesn't start to feel to repetitive."

The previous films in the Conjuring universe, especially the first Conjuring movie itself, have been dubbed some of the scariest films of the horror genre. First time director Gary Dauberman wrote the script for Annabelle Comes Home (having written the other Conjuring universe films and the recent hit IT and its IT: Chapter Two sequel). In doing so, he changed up the tone a bit and brought some of the entertaining levity seen in his IT script to the third Annabelle movie. He is one of fifth directors to have helmed a Conjuring universe movie now, following Wan, David F. Sandberg, John R. Leonetti, and Corin Hardy -- meaning each has had their opportunity to leave their respective fingerprints on the franchise.

"I think it's important that you come into each installment, each chapter, with a different sort of outlook on things," Wan explained. "And just for the very nature that Annabelle Comes Home, deals with a younger cast, means that it kind of wants to be more of a fun film. More of like a classic, haunted house, rollercoaster film, because of that, and I think that's good. And we embrace, we lean into that sort of 80s emblem style of characters and I think it was the perfect approach for this one."

Annabelle Comes Home is now playing in theaters.