We review the universe created by James Wan and his past, present and future trajectory, are you ready for the purest terror? Watch out for the dolls, they go alone.
After abusing numerical sequels, Americanizing every successful product outside its borders and crushing the 80s with remakes, the industry has decided to take advantage of cinematographic universes. As far as it goes, it’s almost an advance.
The success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has made all studios with pretensions try to generate at least one great film franchise that, in addition to telling a great central story as a river novel, can expand into infinite ramifications that, hopefully, give their own fruits. For this to happen you have to have a good starting plan and some good luck or, as is the case, be very attentive to what happens and take advantage of the opportunity.
James “The Man” Wan: The Creator
The success of ‘Saw‘ in 2004 he converted to james wan in an important type among lovers of the genre and producers who understood that it had not been luck. After the curiousDeath warrant‘ Y ‘silence from evil‘, both released in 2007, at Blumhouse they took a look at him and gave him carte blanche for the simple and terribly effective ‘insidious‘ (2010).
The success of the proposal not only put him at the helm of a sequel, but also allowed him to become involved in a more ambitious project with Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema as sponsors.
‘Warren File: The Conjuring’: meet Ed and Lorraine
Chad Y Carey Hayes wrote a terrifying script in which they adapted one of the cases they faced Ed Y Lorraine Warrena married couple expert in the paranormal who, since the 70s, traveled the world decaffeinated ghostly wrongs, and gathering supernatural memories that they kept in one of the basements with the most mysteries per square meter on the planet.
Wan knew how to extract oil from the story and, adapting the tempo and forms to the seventies setting, presented ‘Warren File: The Conjuring‘, a great environmental haunted house film sprinkled with the “jump scares” Enough so that the public of the new millennium does not get bored.
The result was overwhelming, the 319 million dollars raised by that 20 million title did not go unnoticed by anyone and, with some nervousness, the sequel was launched.
The problem is that the agenda of Wan and his protagonists, Vera Farmiga Y patrick wilson, didn’t allow them to be played right then and there, which is what Warner and New Line needed to keep that terrifying money faucet open at all costs. That’s when they realized that all of this had to branch out.
‘Annabelle’: luxury high school
The prologue of ‘The Warren File: The Conjuring’ was so powerful that, despite being accompanied by a brilliant film, it ended up being one of the most commented moments by the enthusiastic spectators of the film. After all, what is more terrifying than a doll that appears in places where no one has left it?
For some reason, John R. Leonetti He was the director chosen for the project despite having ‘Mortal Kombat: Annihilation’ and ‘The Butterfly Effect 2’ on his resume. Many came to think that the producers were planning a “direct to DVD” and, as many of us later found out, the same thing would have been better that way.
As much as we complain,’Annabelle‘, the tale of how the terrible doll changed hands until it wiped out the frightened young women who contacted the Warrens in the original film, grossed $257 million worldwide after an investment of just $6.5 million. If you look at the numbers, it was even more profitable.
However, the fierceness of the criticism caused them to rethink how to continue extending this spinoff. A story that they would have to return to after their next big premiere and that is that, now, the boss came to revalidate his title.
‘Warren File: The Enfield Affair’: London Calling
With the release of the not so interesting ‘Insidious: Chapter 2’, and having given the superheroes of Las Tunas their funniest chapter to date with ‘Fast & Furious 7’, Wan got down to work with the sequel that would once again follow the wanderings of the Warren.
Set this time in a gloomy London house, the writers took as a reference the case of the family Hodgson and the violent poltergeist phenomena with which they lived in the late 1970s.
‘Warren File: The Enfield Affair‘ was less subtle than the previous one, but contained enough set pieces handcrafted enough to recognize that Wan was still one of the masters of the genre. The 40 million invested in the title were again not a big problem when the collection reached 320.
It was clear that things were working, it was not the time to stop. With Wan as executive producer of the project, and a third installment with the Warren Waiting for the participants to find a place to wear it, at Warner and New Line they breathe a sigh of relief seeing the foundations of a franchise that, now, could easily grow to different points.
‘Annabelle: Creation’: now yes?
Somewhat worried about the criticism from fans after the first installment with the doll as the protagonist, but forced to continue pulling the thread thanks to the impressive box office, Wan and company decided to go back even further in history, in the mid-50s, to tell us how the evil Annabelle was created.
For this they hired David F Sandbergfamous for his brilliant short ‘Lights Out’ which New Line gave him the opportunity to lengthen into the not-so-interesting but profitable ‘Never Turn Off the Light’.
Although the first critics began pointing out that ‘Annabelle: Creation‘ was superior to the original, fans ended up polarizing into two opposing camps. In the end it didn’t matter who was right, with $306 million grossed, this $15 million film was another hit. The doll continues to make money and, after skipping enough references in the footage to clarify that we were already up to our necks in a universe of terrifying events, new shoots began.
‘The nun’: a painting comes to see me
In ‘The Warren File: The Enfield Case’ they came so high that, despite starting the film with a prologue in the Amityville house that many thought they understood as a nod to an upcoming spinoffthe first official confirmation was that of the story about the terrifying nun who sneaks out of the painting in which she is painted.
A wink shoehorned into ‘Annabelle: Creation’ reminded us again that in 2018 we would travel to a cloistered convent in 1950s Romania where suicides and possessions were frequent between prayers.
With Corin Hardy at the controls, responsible for the interesting ‘The Hallow’, and Taissa Farmiga, Demian Bichir Y Bonnie Aarons as cast members,’the nun‘ not only turned out to be as terrifying as his portrait, but Hardy’s fine art made it millennia Y centennials that packed the rooms came across an elegant, classic and artisan story that referred to works of yesteryear. Turn off prejudices and let yourself be guided by the lighting of the candles.
expanding universe
The next two titles failed to draw much attention in a slate packed with (arguably) more interesting horror titles. Neither ‘La Llorona‘ (Michael Chaves, 2019) or ‘annabelle come home‘ (Gary Dauberman, 2019) ended up penetrating the collective imagination but, luckily for those responsible, their decent box office numbers allowed Warner to continue with the machinery fully operational.
‘Warren File: Forced by the devil’: farewell, do not close
Ed and Lorraine’s third adventure was scheduled for the end of 2020 but, through a global pandemic, we had to wait until June 4, 2021 to find out what it offers us ‘Warren File: Bound by the Devil‘ (Michael Chavez, 2021).
The plot tells what happened in the early 1980s in Connecticut, when the presumably stable Arne Cheyenne Johnson he murdered his landlord. What would have been a typical American trial turned into quite a spectacle (that is, a typical American trial) when he declared that the devil had forced him to do it. Months before, the (real) Warrens had accompanied different parish priests during the exorcism of the little brother of Johnson’s fiancée. After weeks of fighting, the child’s parents managed to get the Church and the demonologists to come to their aid and, it seems, they solved the problem halfway. When Johnson later committed the unexplained murder, investigators supported the theory that the evil being in his little brother-in-law had not disappeared, but had changed bodies.
Will this be the last time we see Vera Farmiga Y patrick wilson embodying the characters?
And now that?
‘the nun 2‘ will be the next title to enter this family. akela cooper will be in charge of the script after signing the script of the wonderful ‘Evil one‘ (James Wan, 2021) and of those not yet released ‘M3GAN‘ (Gerard Johnstone, 2023) and ‘Night Terror‘ (Rob Savage).
Among the confirmed future films is ‘The Crooked Man‘, the adventures and misadventures of another of the secondary of ‘Warren File: The Enfield Affair‘, that elegant lanky fellow that our Javier Botet gave life and that, we hope, he will do again in his spinoff.
As if all this wasn’t enough, Warner created a horror short film contest during the premiere of ‘Annabelle: Creation‘ with the intention of looking for a story that could fit into this universe of files. The winner was Julian Terry with ‘The Nurse‘, a two-minute work about a girl who hears disturbing sounds in her hospital room. Although it has not yet been confirmed that she will have an elongated version, we should not take it for granted.
Source: Fotogramas
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
