It was back in 2013 that James Wan unleashed The Conjuring, but not even Wan himself could’ve predicted at the time just how popular the film would become. That original movie, based on the real-life case files of Ed and Lorraine Warren, scared up $320 million at the worldwide box office, making it clear that Wan had just launched yet another hit franchise.
But again, not even Wan could’ve predicted that The Conjuring Universe would end up becoming the highest grossing franchise in the history of horror cinema. Or that The Conjuring: Last Rites, the ninth installment in the saga and the fourth (and allegedly final) in the mainline series, would debut with the highest global opening weekend for any horror movie in history.
With an HBO Max television series in development, it would seem that the sky truly is the limit for this particular franchise universe. And with Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s Ed and Lorraine Warren as the supernatural superheroes at the center of it all, it doesn’t seem out of line to call The Conjuring Universe horror’s answer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
To that point, The Conjuring: Last Rites is essentially the universe’s Endgame, effectively wrapping up the Ed and Lorraine saga and (seemingly) passing the torch to a new generation.
But let’s back up for a second. How did we get here? Long story short, James Wan’s original The Conjuring movie back in 2013 introduced Ed and Lorraine Warren and cracked open their case files on a terrifying note, with spinoff movie Annabelle arriving in its wake just one year later. From there, Wan returned to the director’s chair in 2016 to make The Conjuring 2, which would end up being the final movie in the universe actually directed by Wan.
The Annabelle spinoff movie got its own sequel with Annabelle: Creation in 2017, while the popularity of the Wan-created character Valak the Demonic Nun from The Conjuring 2 would get her own spinoff movie in 2018, simply titled The Nun. At the time, The Nun was the highest grossing film in the entire universe, a throne now occupied by The Conjuring: Last Rites.
Following The Nun, Annabelle returned in sequel Annabelle Comes Home, the first spinoff to heavily feature Ed and Lorraine Warren. That film set the stage for their return in earnest with The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It in 2021, a lackluster installment that nevertheless introduced a new franchise shepherd into the mix: director Michael Chaves.
Chaves also directed sequel The Nun II in 2023 and then this year’s The Conjuring: Last Rites, wherein he finally perfected the art of making, well, a James Wan movie. He also ensured that The Conjuring Universe will live on for many years to come, as the box office receipts for Last Rites already make it clear that this franchise hasn’t yet fatigued general audiences.
Oh right, The Curse of La Llorona. Released in 2019, that film was kinda-sorta the actual introduction of director Michael Chaves to The Conjuring Universe, but Warner Bros. doesn’t actually acknowledge the film as being part of the universe. Rather, its connections to the Conjuring Universe have been retroactively chalked up to little more than fun Easter Eggs.
“You can’t count it!” says producer Peter Safran. “It periodically gets lumped in because of Chaves and Atomic Monster, but it is not officially part of the universe. By the way, I think Chaves did a great job on the movie, which is why we stole him for the Conjuring universe.”
In any event, for the purposes of this article – and for our ranking of every single installment in The Conjuring Universe – we’re going to include it. Sorry, Peter Safran. We have to.
So where can you stream all NINE movies in The Conjuring Universe, while you wait to revisit The Conjuring: Last Rites when it eventually debuts at home? The Conjuring, Annabelle, The Conjuring 2, Annabelle: Creation, The Nun, Annabelle Comes Home, The Curse of La Llorona, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and The Nun II are all streaming on HBO Max!
And here’s the proper timeline if you’d like to stream them in chronological order…
- The Nun – 1952
- The Nun II – 1956
- Annabelle: Creation – 1958
- Annabelle – 1970
- The Conjuring – 1971
- Annabelle Comes Home – 1972
- The Curse of La Llorona – 1973
- The Conjuring 2 – 1977
- The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It – 1981
- The Conjuring: Last Rites – 1986
Twelve years. Nine (or ten!) movies. And a TV series on the way. This universe isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Stay tuned for updates in Bloody Disgusting’s Conjuring Universe tag.
