[minor spoilers ahead] One of my favorite aspects of The Conjuring was how director James Wan showed audiences the room where the Warrens kept all the items they believed to have been used or possessed by evil spirits without giving them too much back story on any particular object. There seemed to be hundreds of items in the room, meaning hundreds of potential avenues for spinoffs and additional stories featuring The Warrens. The highlight of this collection was no doubt Annabelle, the creepy doll you may remember from the trailers, and according to a new report from Schmoeville she will soon be given a film of her own.

John R. Leonetti is getting behind the camera for Annabelle, the spinoff-prequel to James Wan’s The Conjuring. Pending schedule, the movie will begin filming in Spring of 2014, but at this time no release date has been announced.

Plot details are scarce, but there are at least two ways Leonetti could approach the story of Annabelle. He could either go the route of the movie or the route of the actual doll who inspired the item found in the movie. We’ve included a brief description of both, courtesy of NextMovie, below:

The Annabelle Doll

In the movie: Two nurses/roomies have a doll, Annabelle, they believe is possessed by a demon. They realize Annabelle can move by herself and find a note she wrote that says “Miss me?” They throw the doll away in fear, only to find it back in their apartment later.

In real life: Annabelle is a Raggedy Ann doll that a mother purchased as a gift for her daughter Donna in 1970. According to the New England Society for Psychic Research, Donna and her roommate became fearful of the doll when it started moving on its own and writing notes. The Warrens have the doll now, and Ed—who passed in 2006—claimed Annabelle killed a young man who “challenged the doll to do its worst. And it did.” Chucky, who?

New Line/Warner Bros. are also moving forward with plans for The Conjuring 2, but it has already been widely reported that James Wan will not be returning to the franchise. A start date for production on that project is still up in the air, but Ain’t It Cool News did manage to learn a few details of the planned plot. Their description reads:

…The case file writers Carey and Chad Hayes are looking at occurences in the late ’70s and centers on two sisters in Enfield, England, who were allegedly possessed. Warren said she personally saw them levitate and even saw one of the sister dematerialize in front of her only to be found 20 minutes later stuffed into an oversized fuse box, contorted in such an unnatural way that they couldn’t have replicated it if they tried. She also said that the demon spoke directly to her husband on many occasions. Warren cited this case as one of the most terrifying experiences of her career.

Are you excited for Annabelle or The Conjuring 2? Comment below and let us know your thoughts on these upcoming films.

• Author
• Recent Posts

James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

Latest posts by James Shotwell (see all)

• 2015’s Most Underrated Films - December 29, 2015
• Passing The Torch: The End Of An Era For UTG - December 1, 2015
• UTG PREMIERE: Before The Streetlights – “Private Browser” - November 26, 2015