A fourth main-series film in Warner Bros. Pictures' Conjuring franchise is officially in the works at New Line Cinema.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Conjuring 4 is currently in development at New Line, with franchise producers James Wan and Peter Safran returning. Additionally, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick has been tapped to pen the screenplay. Johnson-McGoldrick is certainly no stranger to working with Wan and Safran, both in and out of the Conjuring franchise.
Johnson-McGoldrick already worked on the previous two main-series entries in the Conjuring universe. For starters, he co-wrote the script for 2016's The Conjuring 2 with Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes and Wan himself. He went on to pen the screenplay for 2021's The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It from a story treatment he co-wrote with Wan. Johnson-McGoldrick also co-wrote the 2018 DC Extended Universe film Aquaman before signing on to write its upcoming sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, both of which were directed by Wan and produced by Safran.
Aquaman star Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga have starred as real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren in all three main-series Conjuring films thus far, as well as in the 2019 spinoff film Annabelle Comes Home. THR reports that Wilson and Farmiga are expected to once again reprise their roles in The Conjuring 4, though no official deals have been finalized at this time. It also remains to be seen which of the Warrens's cases the new film will be based on.
The Conjuring Universe Is Still Going Strong
Directed by Wan from a screenplay by the Hayes brothers, The Conjuring originally released in theaters in 2013, grossing $319.5 million against a budget of $20 million to become one of the most profitable horror films of all time. Two direct sequels, the aforementioned Conjuring 2 and The Devil Made Me Do It, followed suit in 2016 and 2021, respectively.
The success of the original film also spawned the larger Conjuring Universe. The first spinoff feature, Annabelle, originally released in theaters in 2014. Annabelle itself received two sequels, Annabelle: Creation and the aforementioned Annabelle Comes Home, which hit theaters in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Meanwhile, The Nun released in 2018, followed by The Curse of La Llorona in 2019.
In addition to a fourth main-series Conjuring film being in the works, a direct sequel to The Nun is currently in the midst of production in France, with Wan and Safran producing. The long-gestating Conjuring Universe film The Crooked Man is also supposedly still in development.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter