‘Annabelle: Creation’ Pushes ‘The Conjuring’ Horror Franchise To $1B
Annabelle: Creation has earned $160 million worldwide, with this contribution The Conjuring cinematic universe has passed $1 billion dollars worldwide.
The Conjuring. Image via Warner Bros.
The Conjuring series began with producer Tony DeRosa-Grund who developed the idea basing a film on Ed and Lorraine Warren, a pair of paranormal investigators. After 14 years of dead-ends he teamed up with producer Peter Safran to develop the film. After years of being developed by Safran and the writers Chad & Carey W. Hayes it finally went to New Line Cinema, a division of Warner Bros, in 2009.
The cases that the Warren’s worked on were used as inspiration for the films. The main Conjuring films focus on them helping those haunted by demonic spirits, the origin films focus on the origins of those demonic spirits. James Wan directed the first two Conjuring films. Co-produced by Safran and Rob Cowan, co-written by the Hayes. Annabelle was directed by cinematographer of The Conjuring John R Leonetti, written by Gary Dauberman, and produced by Safran & Wan. Annabelle: Creation was directed by David F. Sandberg, and written by Dauberman, and producer Safran & Wan.
Annabelle: Creation. Image via Warner Bros.
“”We are thrilled with the success of Annabelle: Creation and enormously proud to continue bringing this hugely popular Conjuring franchise to theaters everywhere,” says Sue Kroll, president of worldwide marketing and distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures. “We congratulate our colleagues at New Line Cinema, our astute marketing and distribution teams and everyone who put their collective creative energies together to tell such wonderfully frightening stories for movie audiences around the world to enjoy.””
James Wan. Image via Warner Bros.
Wan directed The Conjuring with a $20 million budget. The 2013 flick earned close to $137 million at the domestic box office, and $318 million worldwide. The Conjuring was critically acclaimed and earned a 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Annabelle, the first spin off from the series was released in 2014. It was not as critically lauded as The Conjuring but it still was successful at the box office. It earned $84 million domestically, $256 million worldwide. Unfortunately, it was not as well received, and earned the lowest RT score in the franchise, 29%. However, with a $6.5 million budget, it does not matter that it did not bring as much as The Conjuring or if it was not well-received by critics. The 2016 sequel bumped up the budget to $40 million, and was financially successful too. It did not earn as much as it predecessor at the domestic box office. It earned $102 million domestically, and $320 million worldwide. It earned a 76% on RT, but it still was appreciated for the craft. The latest entry, Annabelle: Creation, stepped it up in terms of critical reception and box office returns. After only being in theatres for less than 2 weeks, it has earned $64 million domestically, $160 million worldwide. It will certainly beat the previous Annabelle‘s box office numbers, and has a better RT score with 67%.
The Conjuring 2. Image via Warner Bros.
The next Conjuring entry will be The Nun, based on the demonic nun entity that appeared in The Conjuring 2. The film will be directed by Corin Hardy, and is set for a July 13th 2018 release date. The Conjuring 3 and The Crooked Man are also in development.
The Conjuring series is the only horror franchise to gross a billon dollars worldwide. It does not look to be stopping anytime soon.
Source: THR. Box Office Mojo.
