The Conjuring franchise may be growing into the MCU of the horror genre, if New Line Cinema boss Richard Brener has his way. The executive sat down for a broad-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter last week, which included a promising update for the saga of Ed and Lorraine Warren. The story has grown in recent years into “The Conjuring Universe,” including the Annabelle movies and The Nun movies, and the next installment, The Conjuring: Last Rites, premieres on September 5th, 2025. Brener revealed that that will conclude “phase one” of the The Conjuring Universe, but he was tight-lipped on what comes next.
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Brener said that all signs point to success for Last Rites, including the responses in test screenings so far. “It’s testing through the roof and we’re only at the director’s cut, the 10-week part of the movie where you’re normally very, very scared about the status of your film,” he said. “We’re very early in the process, have very preliminary visual effects, but it’s already through the roof. So while this is the last of what we call phase one, we are hopeful that we can make more.”
The phrase “phase one” naturally led his interviewer to bring up the MCU, and ask what comes next. “Phase two is TBD,” Brener answered. On one hand, that likely means that nothing is guaranteed for the franchise, which makes sense since the studios have not greenlit any further projects in The Conjuring Universe. However, there are always hints and rumors about directions the franchise could go, and the latest reports indicate that there are multiple films in development behind the scenes.
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Fans have now seen three Conjuring movies, three Annabelle movies, and two Nun movies with a fourth Conjuring out later this year right around the corner. They’re all united by connections to Ed and Lorraine Warren — real-life paranormal investigators who previously inspired The Amityville Horror. At the time of this writing, The Conjuring is the highest-grossing horror franchise of all time, was also maintaining a generally positive reputation among fans and critics.
Last Rites sees Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprising their roles as Ed and Lorraine respectively for a direct sequel to the 2021 film The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. It also stars Mia Tomlinson as the Warrens’ daughter, Judy and Ben Hardy as Judy’s boyfriend, Tony Spera. While the movies in this franchise are all at least loosely based on real-life cases, the inspiration for Last Rites has not been revealed yet.
While Brener was tight-lipped about the future, we may have a better idea of what’s next for The Conjuring Universe after we see Last Rites in theaters starting on September 5th. In the meantime, the previous installments of the franchise are now streaming on Max.
