As mirrored so far in director James Wan's first two Conjuring movies, the real investigations of Ed and Lorraine Warren primarily focused on demonic hauntings of people, places and things -- but there is some variety in their case history that could change things up on the big screen. For example, Ed Warren published the book Werewolf: A True Story of Demonic Possession back in 1991. It's unclear at this point if this source material could be potentially used for a The Conjuring 3, but we can confirm that it's an idea with which Wan is totally on-board.
I sat down with the Conjuring 2 director during a press day earlier this month in Los Angeles, and it was while discussing the potential future of the franchise that I brought up the idea of including lycanthropy in a sequel. As we had discussed mixing things up and keeping the movies interesting earlier in the interview, James Wan's eyes lit up, and he immediately started envisioning what it could be like:
Maybe we can go and do it like a classic American Werewolf in London style. That would be awesome! The Warrens set against the backdrop of The Hound of Baskerville. That would be awesome. Thank you! [laughter]
Much like the adaptations of both the Perron case and the Enfield Poltergeist in the first two Conjuring movies, the accounts of the story from the Warrens would have to be heightened and changed for the big screen -- but we'd love to see the series move in a werewolf-filled direction. More than just adding variety to the series, and creating opportunities to move characters in fantastic directions, it would also be a great thing for the horror genre in general, given that we're constantly seeing demon possession and haunting titles arriving in theaters.
As things stand, there is no confirmed word regarding whether or not we will even get a The Conjuring 3, but after the movie managed to pull in $40 million this past weekend, it's probably something that the folks at Warner Bros. are definitely talking about. Behind the scenes, they have most definitely been preparing for it as a possibility, as James Wan told me that there has been a deep dive into the Warren case history for big screen inspiration. Said Wan,
They have a lot of cases. I'm not sitting there sifting through every single one, but I think, you know, between the writers and the studio, I think they have a short list of their favorite, like basically the top 20 or 30 of the Warren's favorite cases.
Even if The Conjuring 3 isn't about werewolves (we very much hope it is), we definitely want to see more of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren -- but when that could happen is a big question mark. James Wan is currently working on Aquaman as his next big project, and that's going to keep him busy for the foreseeable future. Hopefully the studio is willing to wait for him to be done with the superhero movie before making the sequel, because the director's aesthetic is a huge part of what makes the first two movies so effective.
The Conjuring 2 is now in theaters.
