In fact, if Warner Bros. and New Line have their way, there will certainly be more. According to The InSneider, a prequel movie is now in development.
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Details are somewhat scarce on the movie so far, but we do know that Rodrigue Huart, who has seen success in the short film arena, is in talks to direct.
Right now, the story is a mystery, beyond the notion that it’ll turn the clock back to the early days of Ed and Lorraine Warren, as played in the main ‘Conjuring’ franchise by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.
Whether either actor will be back for bookend scenes, it seems more likely that new people will be stepping into the roles.
What we do know is that Richard Naing and Ian Goldberg, who co-wrote 2023’s ‘The Nun II’ and this year’s ‘Last Rites’ are aboard to script this new movie.
What else is happening in the ‘Conjuring’ universe?
A TV spin-off of the movies has been in the works for some time, and recently hired Nancy Won, a veteran of shows such as Apple TV‘s ‘Sunny’, Netflix‘s ‘Jessica Jones’ and ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ on Hulu to be showrunner, executive producer and head writer for the series.
Plot information is unavailable right now, but the show will apparently continue the story in some fashion, likely without using the Warrens (but we won’t count them out).
The movie series’ Peter Safran remains onboard as an executive producer, with James Wan’s Atomic Monster company also producing. Wan, of course, launched the movie series with 2013’s ‘The Conjuring’.
Also hired for the show were writers Peter Cameron and Cameron Squires, who have Marvel shows and other genre work on their resumes.
When will this ‘The Conjuring’ prequel movie be in theaters?
With none of the deals officially in place yet, we wouldn’t expect this next chunk of scare tactics to be out much before 2027 at the earliest.
Leonardo Di Caprio as Bob Ferguson in ‘One Battle After Another.’ A Warner Bros. Pictures Release. Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.
Preview:
‘One Battle After Another’ is the latest Warner Bros. movie to top the box office.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s ambitious latest stars Leonardo DiCaprio.
‘Gabby’s Dollhouse’ opened second.
It was certainly a gamble for Warner Bros. to back Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film –– for all the acclaim the filmmaker has accrued, he rarely opens to giant box office figures. And even with a bankable star such as Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead, a budget in excess of $130 million was always going to be tough to turn into profit.
Still, a launch of $22.4 million, enough to top the box office this weekend is certainly healthier for ‘One Battle After Another’ than some might have predicted.
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With plenty of positive reviews and good reactions from cinemagoers, it’s probably about as solid as an original, long movie with controversial themes (social justice, political violence) might have expected.
It opened to $26.1 million across 74 markets, making for a $48.5 million global start.
Of course, it has a long road to travel to get to profitability, but it has premium format screenings and plenty of buzz to help it build legs.
And it represents another good result for Warner Bros., which has already enjoyed success with the likes of ‘Sinners’ and ‘A Minecraft Movie’ this year.
What else happened at the box office this weekend?
Madelaine Petsch as Maya in ‘The Strangers — Chapter 2’. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate.
Second place this weekend went to the kid-friendly blend of live-action and animation that is show adaptation ‘Gabby’s Dollhouse’. The Universal movie opened to $13.5 million, and $19 million worldwide.
Horror title ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ clung on to third, adding $6.8 million, ahead of misfiring Renny Harlin sequel effort ‘The Strangers: Chapter 2’, which landed in fourth with $5.9 million. That one at least has the advantage of only costing $8.5 million to make.
Fifth was ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’, which topped the box office last weekend, and fell, but is still earning money. It made $4.8 million, and is currently sitting at $115.9 million domestically.
Coming up next week is awards-buzzed ‘The Smashing Machine’ starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, but ‘One Battle’ faces no real challenge to its premium screen formats until ‘Tron: Ares’ lands on October 10th and starts gobbling up IMAX locations.
(L to R) Leonardo Di Caprio and Director/Writer/Producer Paul Thomas Anderson on the set of ‘One Battle After Another.’ A Warner Bros. Pictures Release. Photo Credit: Merrick Morton.
(L to R) Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in ‘The Conjuring’. Photo: Warner Bros.
Preview:
A ‘The Conjuring’ TV series is in development.
Nancy Won will be showrunner.
The series will be on HBO Max.
With the most recent entry of ‘The Conjuring’ cinematic horror franchise, ‘Last Rites’, delivering giant box office results, you knew there was going to be more.
And the news feels like the right time for an update on the gestating TV series that has been in development at HBO Max since 2023.
There are few details available about the show right now, though Variety’s report mentions that the show will continue some aspect of the ‘Conjuring’ storyline.
Whether that means any appearances of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the main characters (based on real-life supernatural investigators) remains to be seen, but we can imagine the show exploring its own corner of the universe.
There is, let’s not forget other avenues the show could exploit, including ‘The Nun’ and ‘Annabelle’ movie spin-off timelines, but chances are it’ll plough its own row.
The movie series’ Peter Safran remains onboard as an executive producer, with James Wan’s Atomic Monster company also producing. Wan, of course, launched the movie series with 2013’s ‘The Conjuring’.
Also hired for the show were writers Peter Cameron and Cameron Squires, who have Marvel shows and other genre work on their resumes.
What other movie spin-offs are headed to HBO Max?
(L to R) Aaron Pierre as John Stewart and Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan in ‘Lanterns’. Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO.
Alongside the ‘Conjuring’ show, fellow horror franchise ‘It’ has its own spin-off hitting HBO Max starting October 26th called ‘IT: ‘Welcome to Derry’. It’s a prequel set in the 1960s.
And while it’s not strictly a spin-off from an existing movie, superhero series ‘Lanterns’ is part of the DC Studios universe and will include appearances from Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, whose character was introduced in ‘Superman’.
When will the ‘Conjuring’ series be on HBO Max?
Since it’s at such an early stage, there is no information yet on when the show might hit the streaming service.
‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ opened big at the global box office.
It represents the most successful launch for a ‘Conjuring’ movie.
And Warner Bros. is on a remarkable run.
The ‘Conjuring’ franchise –– launched back in 2013 by James Wan –– has been quite the reliable performer for Warner Bros., and this past weekend’s launch of latest entry ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ certainly kept that tradition alive.
‘Last Rites’, advertised as the final outing for Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s supernatural investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, took in an impressive $83 million in its first three days.
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That makes it the most successful entry in a franchise that, via a run of nine movies including sequels and spin-offs, has earned $2.3 billion.
This ‘Last Rites’ launch was easily enough to win the box office here in the US, and with $194 million worldwide, it is also the most successful launch for a horror title globally, overtaking Warners’ own ‘It’.
The success of ‘Last Rites’ marks an impressive theatrical run for Warner Bros. as the seventh consecutive release to open above $40 million. No other studio has ever achieved that level of consistency at the box office.
It’s even more remarkable when you consider that earlier in the year, the studio had suffered a series of duds from 2024 and the initial months of 2024 including ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’, ‘Mickey 17’ and ‘The Alto Knights’.
Studio Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy were at risk of being fired until the likes of ‘A Minecraft Movie’, ‘Sinners’, ‘Superman’ and more began a run of hits, with movies sticking around beyond their first weekend.
What else happened at the box office this weekend?
Disney’s theatrical release of the filmed ‘Hamilton’ stage musical was a distant second, earning $10 million from 1,825 screens. It’s a solid start given that the movie has been on Disney+ since 2020.
Moviefone has compiled a list of the most anticipated movies opening in theaters and/or streaming in September and October of 2025, which not only includes major studio releases but also smaller independent films that you won’t want to miss.
Paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) take on one last terrifying case involving mysterious entities they must confront.
(L to R) Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin, Adria Arjona and Dakota Johnson in ‘Splitsville’. Photo: Neon.
When his wife Ashley (Adria Arjona) asks for a divorce, Carey (Kyle Marvin) runs to his friends (Dakota Johnson and Michael Angelo Covino) for support, only to learn that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage; that is, until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.
Michael Strassner in Jay Duplass’s ‘The Baltomrons’. Courtesy of Jon Bregel. An Independent Film Company Release.
After cracking a tooth on Christmas Eve, newly sober Cliff (Michael Strassner) embarks on an unexpected May/December adventure through Baltimore with Didi (Liz Larsen), his emergency dentist.
(L to R) Ruby Cruz, Zoey Deutch, and Jonah Hauer-King in ‘The Threesome’. Photo: Vertical.
Connor (Jonah Hauer-King) is a kind and unassuming young man, who, along with his long-time crush Olivia (Zoey Deutch), engages in a threesome with a sweet, alluring stranger named Jenny (Ruby Cruz). This encounter sparks a relationship between Connor and Olivia, leading them to plan a life together. However, their romance faces challenges when Jenny reappears, thrusting all three into a difficult journey toward true accountability and adulthood.
(L to R) Orlando Bloom as “Boxer” and John Turturro as “Boz” in the Psychological Thriller film, ‘The Cut’. Photo courtesy of Republic Pictures (a Paramount Pictures label).
A retired boxer (Orlando Bloom) intends to return to the ring for one last shot at the title, but first he must make the weight. Holed up in a room in Las Vegas with an unscrupulous trainer (John Turturro), he embarks on an intensive and illegal weight-cutting program.
When Mary (Michelle Dockery) finds herself at the center of a public scandal and the family faces financial strife, the entire household grapples with the threat of social disgrace. The Crawleys must embrace change as the staff prepares for a new chapter with the next generation leading Downton Abbey into the future.
(L to R) Joshua Odjick as Parker, Jordan Gonzalez as Harkness, David Jonsson as McVries, Cooper Hoffman as Garraty, and Charlie Plummer as Barkovitch in ‘The Long Walk’. Photo Credit: Murray Close/Lionsgate.
Every year, fifty teenage boys meet for an event known throughout the country as “The Long Walk.” Among this year’s chosen crop is “Maine’s Own,” Ray Garraty (Cooper Hoffman). He knows the rules: that warnings are issued if you fall under speed, stumble, sit down. That after three warnings- you get your ticket. And what happens then serves as a chilling reminder that there can be only one winner in the Walk. The one that survives.
Dev Patel appears in ‘Rabbit Trap’ by Bryn Chainey, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute. Photo: Andreas Johannessen.
When a musician (Rosy McEwen) and her husband (Dev Patel) move to a remote house in Wales, the music they make disturbs local ancient folk magic, bringing a nameless child to their door who is intent on infiltrating their lives.
(L to R) Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest in ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’. Photo: Bleecker Street.
Now estranged, Spinal Tap (Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest) are forced to reunite for one final concert, hoping it will solidify their place in the pantheon of rock ‘n’ roll.
Rebekah Kennedy as “Abigail” in the horror film, ‘Traumatika’, a Saban Films release. Photo courtesy of Saban Films.
A young boy’s night terrors become reality when his mother begins showing signs of demonic possession. What he’s about to experience will haunt him for the rest of his life and claim countless lives across generations.
Sarah (Margot Robbie) and David (Colin Farrell) are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present… and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.
(L to R) Jeremy Ray Taylor as “Julian” and Josh Duhamel as “Tommy Ward” in the action comedy ‘London Calling’, a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.
After fleeing the UK from a job gone wrong, a down on his luck hitman (Josh Duhamel) is forced to babysit the son (Jeremy Ray Taylor) of his new crime boss (Rick Hoffman) and show him how to become a man.
Omari Hardwick in ‘Xeno’. Photo: Blue Fox Entertainment.
When a fearless teenage girl (Lulu Wilson) stumbles upon a mysterious alien crash-landed in the desert near her home, she discovers that it’s not the kind of extraterrestrial she expected—it’s powerful, unpredictable, and on the run. As government agents (Omari Hardwick) close in, she must protect her new otherworldly friend while uncovering a secret that could change the fate of both their worlds.
Madelaine Petsch as Maya in ‘The Strangers — Chapter 2’. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate.
On the final day of their cross country road trip, a couple’s vehicle breaks down, forcing them to take refuge in a remote Airbnb. As night falls, three masked strangers terrorize them until dawn. The film stars Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso and Ema Horvath.
Emma Thompson in ‘Dead of Winter’. Photo: Vertical.
A widowed fisherwoman (Emma Thompson), traveling alone through snowbound northern Minnesota, interrupts the kidnapping of a teenage girl. Hours from the nearest town and with no phone service, she realizes that she is the young girl’s only hope.
(L to R) Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield in ‘Play Dirty’. Photo: Prime Video.
Expert thief Parker (Mark Wahlberg) gets a shot at a major heist, but to pull it off he and his team must outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob, and the world’s richest man.
Maddie Hasson in Bleecker Street and LD’s ‘Bone Lake’. Credit: Bleecker Street and LD Entertainment.
A couple’s romantic vacation at a secluded lakeside estate is upended when they are forced to share the mansion with a mysterious and attractive couple. In this darkly hilarious and seductive horror story, a dream getaway spirals into a nightmarish maze of sex, lies, and manipulation, bringing terrifying secrets to light and triggering a bloody battle for survival.
(L to R) Guy Pearce and DeWanda Wise star in ‘KIlling Faith’. Photo: Film Bridge International.
In the summer of 1859, a widowed physician (Guy Pearce) reluctantly agrees to take a recently freed slave (DeWanda Wise) and her mysterious Caucasian daughter on a five-day journey through the bloody West to find a distant town’s Faith Healer. The woman believes her daughter is possessed. The doctor believes she simply carries The Sickness. Either way the fact remains that every living thing the girl touches mysteriously dies.
A highly sophisticated Program called Ares (Jared Leto) is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with A.I. beings.
(L to R) Daniel Bernhardt and Patton Oswalt in ‘Deathstalker’. Photo: Shout! Studios.
The warrior Deathstalker (Daniel Bernhardt) is tasked by an old witch lady to obtain and unite the three powers of creation – a chalice, an amulet, and a sword – lest the evil magician Munkar get them and use them for nefarious purposes. After obtaining the sword, Deathstalker joins with other travelers going to the Big Tournament to determine the strongest warrior. The false king holds the true princess in captivity, and plots to have Deathstalker killed, and Deathstalker must fight to free the princess.
(L to R) Mark Coles Smith as “Leo,” Maximillian Johnson as “Stan,” Joel Nankervis as “Will,” and Lee Tiger Halley as “Teddy” in the thriller film ‘Beast of War’. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment.
When their boat is sunk while crossing the Timor Sea during World War II, a young troop of Australian soldiers must find a way to survive the harsh seas on a quickly shrinking life raft. Hundreds of miles from anywhere, they must confront interpersonal conflicts, enemy attacks, and the advances of one very large, very hungry great white shark.
Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac), a brilliant but egotistical scientist, brings a creature (Jacob Elordi) to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
‘Pets on a Train’ opens in theaters on October 17th. Photo: Viva Pictures.
When a train unexpectedly starts up, taking only pets with it, the animals discover that Hans, a badger with a grudge is behind it all. While the crash seems inevitable, the animals can count on Falcon, a roguish Raccoon who will do anything to save them.
(L to R) Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller in ‘Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost’. Photo: Apple TV+.
Ben Stiller tells the story of his parents—comedy icons Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara—exploring their impact on popular culture and at home, where the lines between creativity, family, life, and art often blurred.
(L to R) Keanu Reeves as Gabriel, Seth Rogen as Jeff, and Aziz Ansari as Ari in ‘Good Fortune’. Photo Credit: Eddy Chen.
A well-meaning but rather inept angel named Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) meddles in the lives of a struggling gig worker (Aziz Ansari) and a wealthy capitalist (Seth Rogen).
Four years after escaping The Grabber (Ethan Hawke), Finney Blake (Mason Thames) is struggling with his life after captivity. When his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) begins receiving calls in her dreams from the black phone and seeing disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp known as Alpine Lake, the siblings become determined to solve the mystery and confront a killer who has grown more powerful in death and more significant to them than either could imagine.
Tessa Thompson stars as “Hedda Gabler” in ‘Hedda’. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
Hedda Gabler (Tessa Thompson) finds herself torn between the lingering ache of a past love and the quiet suffocation of her present life. Over the course of one charged night, long-repressed desires and hidden tensions erupt—pulling her and everyone around her into a spiral of manipulation, passion, and betrayal.
Two conspiracy obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company (Emma Stone), convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.
(L to R) Margaret Qualley and Ethan Hawke in ‘Blue Moon’. Photo: Sony Pictures Classics.
On the evening of March 31, 1943, legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) confronts his shattered self-confidence in Sardi’s bar as his former collaborator Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) celebrates the opening night of his ground-breaking hit musical “Oklahoma!”.
‘Last Days’ opens exclusively in US theaters on October 24th. Photo: Tanasak “Top” Boonlam.
Determined to fulfill his life’s mission, 26-year-old John Allen Chau (Sky Yang) embarks on a dangerous adventure across the globe to convert the uncontacted tribe of North Sentinel Island to Christianity, while a detective from the Andaman Islands races to stop him before he does harm to himself or the tribe.
Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen in ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere.’ Photo: 20th Century Studios.
Bruce Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White), a young musician on the cusp of global superstardom, struggles to reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past
It’s kind of amazing to realize that the ‘Conjuring’ universe is the only successful shared cinematic universe that doesn’t have superheroes in it. But after 12 years and $2.2 billion in box office receipts, this spooky paranormal saga revolving primarily around the real-life case files of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren is finally coming to a close.
After the tedious, going-through-the-motions disappointment of 2021’s ‘The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,’ we’re glad to report that ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ finds the series on much better footing as it heads for the door. While it doesn’t quite match up to the first two installments, and there’s a certain amount of formula now permanently ingrained in the proceedings, ‘Last Rites’ is a more energetic, creepier, and emotional sendoff, anchored like all these films by the chemistry between stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.
It’s 1986, and Ed and Lorraine Warren are all but retired from the paranormal investigation business due to Ed’s health issues and Lorraine’s fear of bringing evil forces down upon their heads and that of their now grown daughter Judy. At the same time, Ed is restless: the couple find themselves lecturing to near-empty college classrooms full of snickering students, and he’s not adapting well to a private life where he has to order the salad in a restaurant instead of lasagna.
So when they are approached about the case of Jack and Janet Smurl – whose family and house in West Pittston, Pennsylvania are seemingly under assault from a demonic entity – the Warrens find themselves pulled back in just when they thought they were out. But there’s an added wrinkle, as whatever is haunting the Smurls has its sights set on Judy as well, and is already sinking its psychic talons into her.
Director Michael Chaves – returning from ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’ – seems more confident here, even though he sticks squarely to the cinematic playbook of ‘Conjuring’ franchise mastermind and original series director James Wan. That means we get Wan’s trademark sweeps of dark rooms with even darker corners, which are surprisingly still effective: you can’t help but tense up anytime the camera lingers on those negative spaces. The demonic apparitions are spooky if fairly familiar, and some of the film plays like a ‘greatest hits’ as even haunted doll Annabelle makes a return for reasons that remain unclear at best.
But it’s the additional stakes for the Warrens that make ‘Last Rites’ largely work. While the film suffers from being a bit too long and suffers from stop-and-go pacing accordingly, the script (by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and series regular David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, from a story by Johnson-McGoldrick and Wan) puts much more emphasis on the family dynamics of the Warrens as they try to leave their past behind for the sake of their health and safety. We have no idea what the Warrens were like in real life or whether they believed in what they were doing, but the fictional family portrayed here is likable, brave, and sympathetic. It’s what ultimately makes the scares land, and keeps the viewer invested even through the clumsier parts.
As noted earlier, the main ‘Conjuring’ films have benefited enormously from the work of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. They have become as comfortable in the roles as your favorite Marvel or ‘Fast and the Furious’ superhero, and their empathy and warmth go a long way in making this horror franchise relatable. The pair also do a lot of the heavy lifting here, especially when the script bogs down, and they add enough to the more emotional moments to sell them successfully.
The rest of the cast is fine, if somewhat generic. Mia Tomlinson gets some moments to shine as the Warrens’ daughter Judy, while Ben Hardy is likable if a bit bland as her boyfriend Tony. The Smurls, unfortunately, are a more generic lot, and with much of the emphasis on the Warrens, the family at the center of the haunting never really rises above the level of ghostly punching bags.
As with any sustained media franchise, the universe of ‘The Conjuring’ has had its highs and lows. The third ‘Conjuring’ film, both ‘Nun’ entries, and the first ‘Annabelle’ probably rank pretty low, while the initial ‘Conjuring’ films and the underrated ‘Annabelle Comes Home’ sit at the top of the heap.
‘Last Rites’ ends up somewhere in the middle, perhaps a bit closer to the top thanks to the emotional connection of its leads and its ability to still mine some genuine scares out of this material. The end of the film gives the Warrens a satisfying goodbye, and no matter what you think about the real-life couple or their alleged experiences, James Wan and company have created a horror saga in which good-hearted characters are the protagonists, not a masked killer or supernatural being. We’ll take over all the Jasons and Art the Clowns in the world.
‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ receives a score of 75 out of 100.
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) take on one last case that may prove to be their most dangerous yet, as a demonic entity attacks not just an innocent family but the Warrens’ daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson).
Who is in the cast of ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’?
