New Line schedules a Conjuring Universe film for 2019 release

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

As most horror fans probably know by now, New Line Cinema is working with James Wan to build a cinematic horror universe around his haunted house / possession films THE CONJURING and THE CONJURING 2. We've already seen the evil doll spin-off ANNABELLE and its prequel ANNABELLE: CREATION, and on September 7th we'll be getting director Corin Hardy's THE NUN, a spin-off featuring a demonic character first seen in THE CONJURING 2.

New Line has now scheduled another film in "The Conjuring Universe" for 2019 release… but this one's a secret for now. The project has shown up on New Line's schedule under the title "NEW CONJURING UNIVERSE MOVIE", and the release date it has been given is not a great one. As of this moment, the mystery film is set to come out on July 3, 2019. While this is obviously an attempt to replicate the success THE CONJURING and THE CONJURING 2 had with their July and June release dates, this means the film would be arriving in theatres just two days before Marvel's next SPIDER-MAN movie. That doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

I'm expecting to see the release date shift, but in the meantime we have to ponder what the film could be. New Line scheduling a release date that's only (a little over) fourteen months away would seem to indicate that it's pretty close to heading into production.

An option that seems more likely than THE CONJURING 3 or a third ANNABELLE film is another spin-off from THE CONJURING 2, this one focusing on the creature called THE CROOKED MAN. It's been almost a year since we heard that a CROOKED MAN movie was in the works, with Mike Van Waes writing the screenplay, based on a story by Wan.

Odds are that THE CROOKED MAN is the mystery film New Line is planning to release in 2019… Now we wait for official confirmation. And maybe we'll be surprised, maybe this will turn out to be THE CONJURING 3.

I wasn't a big fan of The Crooked Man as presented in THE CONJURING 2; he felt out of place to me, more suited for INSIDIOUS than THE CONJURING. I'd be willing to check out his solo movie, but I'd be much more excited about THE CONJURING 3.