While far from being the most innovative horror movie ever made, The Conjuring managed to hook audiences with one simple gimmick: It’s like a regular movie, except scary stuff happens. Crazy! Who could have ever predicted that the trick to making a successful horror movie was so easy?
A proper sequel to The Conjuring—in which a fictionalized version of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren fight ghosts with the power of love—is still set to be released in 2015, but Warner Bros. and New Line can’t wait that long to start running this franchise into the ground. It’s a new and popular horror movie, after all. It needs as many sequels as possible. That’s why Warner Bros. is happy to be moving forward with Annabelle, a spinoff based on that creepy doll from the first film. It’s being directed by John Leonetti, who was the director of photography for The Conjuring. James Wan, who directed the original, is signed on as a producer.
According to Collider, Annabelle is set to be released on October 3, 2014. When we last reported on its status, however, it was facing a lawsuit from people who claimed that they owned the rights to the Warrens’ many ghostly adventures, including those that make up the plot of The Conjuring. Since that doesn’t seem to have held Annabelle back at all, it’s possible that Warner Bros. is either working things out with the other party, or it sent them the real Annabelle doll and they’ve all been killed by ghosts.