Credit: The Conjuring
The Success of The Conjuring Series
Could the end be near for the long-running series? When James Wan introduced the world to The Conjuring back in 2013, the horror feature was heavily praised by most fans and critics as one of the scariest movies in modern times. In fact, some fans have gone on to say that it’s the scariest film of all time! It has been nearly ten years, and it was confirmed back in October that Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson’s ghost-hunting couple would make their return in another sequel.
Since 2013, The Conjuring has grown into a universe and has seen the widespread success that has continuously kept the horror genre hot. However, is the end almost in sight for the main series? Collider’s Alyse Wax sat down and talked to James Wan about his new killer doll film, Megan; however, the interview managed to get some dirt about the possibility of The Conjuring 4 being the final film of the main story:
Credit: The Conjuring
James Wan Addresses What The Future May Hold For The Conjuring Franchise
“Yeah, we are working on it right now. With the Conjuring films, we are very precious about [them]. And so we kind of want to just take our time to make sure we get it right and to make sure the emotion of the Warren stories that we want to tell, and moving into, and potentially wrapping up, we just want to make sure that it’s the right, the right story that we’re telling.”
Of course, this is an extremely vague statement. The interviewer thankfully catches this and asks for the writer-director to elaborate further on whether The Conjuring 4 will be the final film of the franchise. Wan basically says “we’ll see”, thus not giving a definite answer to the question. It all sounds as if depends on whether the film is a financial success or not, though that’s pure speculation on my end.
The third entry, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, made the lowest return of the franchise to date. It made $206.4 million worldwide. Now, for a third film in a horror series, that’s still a pretty darn good number. Couple in the fact that this was a day-and-date release with HBO Max could be why it came in $100 million less than the previous two films. Considering that the production budget was $39 million, then this was still a huge win for the series overall.
Credit: The Conjuring
Should The Conjuring End With Part 4?
The Conjuring is at a crossroads right now. The reason that the franchise hasn’t hit the stale factor yet is due to the fact that each film tells a different story following the adventures of Ed and Lorraine Warren. However, The Conjuring 3 was easily the most lackluster entry in the series thus far. Still, that doesn’t mean that the fourth entry is doomed already. James Wan’s touch was greatly missed in The Devil Made Me Do It, but he shouldn’t be necessary to make The Conjuring series work.
As long as the filmmakers can keep the series moving forward with fresh and compelling content, then there’s no reason to not continue following the cases of Ed and Lorraine Warren. If the creators focus on quality than quantity, then it’ll surely have a bright future in the world of horror. Say what you will about the first two Conjuring films, but they’re well-made entries into the genre. They’re nothing groundbreaking as those types of stories are nothing new, but the strong direction from Wan elevated it to something greater. We’ll see where this franchise goes once the next entry comes out. With the recent announcement, it wouldn’t be a surprise if The Conjuring 4 came out sometime in late 2024.
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