James Wan, director of The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2, suggested that the fourth main-series film may wrap up the story of demon hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren.
Wan discussed The Conjuring 4 in an interview with Collider, saying that the new film could potentially be the final installment in the Conjuring series. "With the Conjuring films, we are very precious about [them]," Wan said. "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 thing, the right story that we're telling."
The Conjuring 4 was announced in October 2022. The fourth installment in Warner Bros. Pictures' Conjuring franchise is currently in the works at New Line Cinema with Wan and Peter Safran returning as producers and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick set to write the script. The Conjuring was released in 2013 and became one of the best-selling horror movies of all time, grossing $319.5 million against a $20 million budget of $20 million. The success of the first film launched a franchise of spinoffs and prequel movies such as Annabelle and The Nun, as well as a direct sequel, The Conjuring 2, in 2016.
The Conjuring Launched a Modern Horror Franchise
The main Conjuring movies follow fictionalized versions of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, portrayed respectively by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. Each movie is based on a famous haunting and follows the couple as they confront demons and perform exorcisms. The last mainline movie to be released was The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It in 2021, directed by Michael Chaves. Wilson and Farmiga have portrayed the Warrens in all three Conjuring movies so far, as well as the 2019 spinoff, Annabelle Comes Home. Both actors are expected to reprise their roles for The Conjuring 4, though their returns have not been officially confirmed.
Apart from The Conjuring films, there are currently three separate spinoff series in the franchise. 2014's Annabelle spawned its own trilogy of films, including Annabelle: Creation in 2017 and Annabelle Comes Home in 2019. The Conjuring universe also includes 2018's The Nun and 2019's The Curse of La Llorona, which was also directed by Chaves. A sequel to The Nun is currently in production in France, with both Wan and Safran serving as producers.
There is currently no scheduled release date for The Conjuring 4.
Source: Collider