From the beginning, The Conjuring Universe has always been a reliable box office draw, as multiple mainline installments and spinoffs combined to gross over $2 billion at the worldwide box office. But even the biggest Conjuring fans were probably surprised to see how big of a hit The Conjuring: Last Rites became. Billed as the last time audiences would see Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga portray paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, Last Rites blew past box office projections in its opening weekend, breaking notable records in the process. That kind of success made it difficult to believe Warner Bros. would leave the franchise on the shelf, and now a new Conjuring film is in development.
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According to Variety, a Conjuring prequel is in the works. Rodrigue Huart is “in talks to direct,” while franchise veterans Richard Naing and Ian Goldberg are being eyed to write the script. No release date has been set and there are no actors attached to the project as of this writing. There’s no official synopsis yet, but Variety notes the story will chronicle the “early years” of the Warrens’ career, meaning Wilson and Farmiga will likely be replaced by younger stars.
Warner Bros. Has Big Plans for The Conjuring Universe Despite Last Rites Finale
The Conjuring: Last Rites director Michael Chaves told us that Last Rites “is absolutely the end,” but Warner Bros. always intended to keep the franchise around for the foreseeable future. Years before Last Rites rewrote box office history, it was announced that a Conjuring TV show was in development for HBO Max. It’s certainly possible that at one point in development, the idea was for Last Rites to serve as a grand finale for The Conjuring Universe on the big screen before the IP made a pivot to the small screen. But after the overwhelming success of Last Rites, it became hard to put the film series on ice.
Going the prequel route is a fascinating creative decision. Ed and Lorraine Warren took on a plethora of cases over the course of their career, so there’s no shortage of source material to draw from when developing future films. There’s more than enough available to build out a full series of prequel movies, leading up to the events of the original Conjuring. Of course, recasting the two leads comes with a certain level of risk. Replacing Wilson and Farmiga will be no easy task, as they were the faces of the mainline films. The new actors will have to strike a balance between honoring Wilson and Farmiga’s performances while also putting their own spin on the characters, and hopefully audiences will buy in. If viewers don’t connect with the new Ed and Lorraine Warren, then a prequel series could be short-lived.
Perhaps the biggest goal for the Conjuring prequel will be to get the movies back on track from a creative perspective. The last few films earned mixed reviews (Last Rites has a 59% score on Rotten Tomatoes). Prequels can be difficult nuts to crack, but there could be some value in being able to tell stories from a fresh perspective; the younger Ed and Lorraine Warren will obviously be at a different stage in their lives when the prequel film picks up, and it might be interesting to see how they react to whatever supernatural situation they find themselves in. If the movie is successful, it could add some depth to the other films, further fleshing the Warrens out and making them more well-rounded characters.
After Last Rites broke records, it seemed like a given there would be more Conjuring movies, however, the safer bet might have been on another spinoff or even a follow-up revolving around the Warrens’ daughter Judy. Instead, Ed and Lorraine will continue to be at the forefront of the franchise, allowing Warner Bros. to stick to the IP’s true story roots by mining the family’s case history for more ideas. Since horror films are relatively inexpensive to make, there’s seemingly little harm in giving this a try; even if the prequel doesn’t match the performance of Last Rites, Warner Bros. stands to turn a profit on the concept and then the studio can go from there.
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