It seems I may in fact have to catch up with director John R. Leonetti's supposedly terrible 2014 spin-off Annabelle as the sequel that spin-off, or as it is now being labeled, "the next chapter in The Conjuring universe," Annabelle Creation looks to be rather intriguing. It seems after finding and producing a full length version of David F. Sandberg's Lights Out last summer horror maestro James Wan (Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring) enlisted Sandberg to also direct the next installment in his ever-expanding horror brand. Though Wan is currently busy prepping for Warner Bros. Aquaman solo film as part of their DC Comics Extended Universe there is no doubt the studio wants to also keep the director very much involved in the genre and properties where he built his name and where they see large returns on micro budgets. The first Annabelle was produced for a paltry $6.5 million and raked in $84 million domestically and $256.8 million worldwide. Add to that last summer's The Conjuring 2 which had a slightly bigger price tag at $40 million, but made over $100 million in the U.S. alone with a worldwide total of over $300 million and you'll understand why the studio will continue to pump out sequels and anthology films until they're blue in the face. All of that taken into consideration, it doesn't hurt that the studio and Wan are assigning such projects to people they believe in. Though Leonetti's initial film may not have been critically acclaimed he was a guy who'd served as Wan's cinematographer on a number of project's throughout the years and who Wan likely went to bat for. The same seems to be true of Sandberg who made a short film that he was lucky enough to get in front of someone as influential as Wan who liked it and has now given him the keys to the castle. As for this trailer, this looks like a much bigger, more refined piece of filmmaking than its predecessor as the period setting and grandness of the origin story lend the whole thing an aura of horrific prestige. A little too much of the story is divulged, but here's to hoping Sandberg and writer Gary Dauberman (who also helped pen the It re-make) still have a few surprises left for audiences. Annabelle: Creation stars Anthony Lapaglia, Miranda Otto, Alicia Vela-Bailey, Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman, Philippa Coulthard, Lulu Wilson, Kerry O'Malley, Samara Lee, Brian Howe, and opens on August 11, 2017.
Synopsis: Several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, soon becoming the target of the dollmaker’s possessed creation, Annabelle. David F. Sandberg (“Lights Out”) directs from a screenplay by Gary Dauberman, who also wrote “Annabelle.” Produced by Peter Safran and James Wan, the film stars Stephanie Sigman (“Spectre”), Talitha Bateman (“The 5th Wave”), Lulu Wilson (upcoming “Ouija 2,” “Deliver Us from Evil”), Philippa Anne Coulthard (“After the Dark”), Grace Fulton (“Badland”), Lou Lou Safran (“The Choice”), Samara Lee (“Foxcatcher,” “The Last Witch Hunter”), Tayler Buck in her feature film debut, with Anthony LaPaglia (TV’s “Without a Trace”) and Miranda Otto (Showtime’s “Homeland,” “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy).
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