The ‘Conjuring’ Universe Gets Bigger With ‘The Crooked Man’

The funny thing about franchises is that the best ones usually aren’t planned out terribly well in advance, and emerge organically out of standalone films that strike such a chord with audiences that we practically DEMAND follow-up movies. Universal Pictures didn’t wait to find out if audiences actually liked their “Dark Universe” before announcing their sequel plans, and that approach may have bit them in the ass, if the box office numbers for The Mummy are any indication.

But Warner Bros. has developed their own, homespun cinematic universe with the Conjuring movies, which have already produced two blockbuster films and a financially successful killer prequel, Annabelle. The sequel to that spin-off, Annabelle: Creation, hits theaters this summer and stands a very good chance of being successful, because the audience has already expressed their interest in the character and the costs are being kept reasonably low.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. is already developing a spin-off based on The Conjuring 2‘s signature boogeywoman The Nun, and now – as reported today by Variety – another spin-off based on The Crooked Man, a demon who also menaced paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren in their second cinematic adventure. James Wan, who produces the series and directed the first two Conjuring movies, has concocted the story for the new supernatural thriller.

The Crooked Man is a lanky, contorting demon, which takes its inspiration from a popular nursery rhyme: “There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile…”. The rhyme has already been used as the basis for a 2016 supernatural thriller called, fittingly enough, The Crooked Man.

Judging by the trailer, it… doesn’t look very good. Hopefully the Conjuring version will fare better!

 

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Top Photo: Warner Bros.

William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.

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