The Conjuring: How A Perfect Horror Movie Launched A Blockbuster Franchise

The Conjuring is the name in modern horror, and 13 years after the original movie premiered, the franchise is as strong as ever. Modern horror is in a curious moment in the 2020s. The century has been great for horror, but the last 6–10 years have seen the genre enter a different phase.

Ushered in by studios like Neon and A24, horror movies have taken on a different feel. Folk horror and cerebral, psychological horror that were previously confined to more niche audiences are now blockbusters. It's a time that makes movies like The Conjuring seem almost quaint, but the franchise is far from it.

The Conjuring Is A Perfect Horror Movie

The Conjuring is a true modern Hollywood horror marvel. Very rarely does a horror film from the past two decades make a case to be spoken about alongside the best horror movies of all time, but The Conjuring is that movie. It takes the classic tropes of the genre, polishes them, and executes them flawlessly.

It's scary. It's really scary. Horror movies, particularly some recent ones that swim into the psychological, sci-fi, or emotionally dramatic lanes of their cross-genre plots, lose that essential part of horror filmmaking, but The Conjuring does not. The horror is central, and everything else is built around it.

How The Conjuring Became One Of Hollywood's Biggest Franchises

Horror franchises usually aren't built the same way that something like the MCU or Monsterverse is built, with future films and prequels already being considered before the first film even comes out. Usually, with a horror movie, if it succeeds, it gets a sequel, and if that goes well, maybe you get a trilogy.

Before you know it, you have a franchise on your hands. The $319 million gross of the first Conjuring meant a second one was inevitable. When that film, The Conjuring 2, earned even more money, the dam broke, and now we have one of the strongest horror franchises of all time, thanks to director James Wan's film.

The Conjuring Will Return With A Prequel

The latest film in The Conjuring Universe is The Conjuring: Last Rites, which premiered on September 5, 2025, becoming the highest-grossing film in the franchise. So, of course, we're getting another one. The Conjuring: First Communion is set to be released on September 10, 2027.

This prequel to The Conjuring will explore Ed and Lorraine Warren's early years. It's unclear whether Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga will be playing the characters, or whether the younger actors from Last Rites, Orion Smith and Madison Lawlor, will return as the ghost hunters extraordinaire​​​​​.