New Line is summoning more paranormal scares, hiring David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick to write The Conjuring 4, the next installment in the juggernaut $2 billion The Conjuring Universe.
Johnson-McGoldrick is a Conjuring veteran, having penned The Conjuring 2 and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, the latter of which opened at No. 1 at the box office in 2021 and pushed the franchise to over $2 billion worldwide.
Returning to produce are James Wan and Peter Safran, the filmmaking team behind every film in the Conjuring Universe, including the eighth installment The Nun 2, currently shooting in France.
The Conjuring films are based on the real-life case files of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, although the exact case for new installment is being secret.
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga have portrayed the Warrens in the three previous movies, as well as in spinoff Annabelle Comes Home. The duo are expected to reprise their roles, although no deals are made currently.
Conjuring has been scarily good for New Line. The original movie was released in summer 2013 as a counterprogramming tactic against big tentpoles. The move worked, as it ended up making $320 million worldwide against a budget of $20 million, becoming one of the most profitable horror films in history and birthing a franchise.
Johnson-McGoldrick has a long history with Warner Bros., dating back to penning the script to the 2009 horror flick Orphan. He later wrote Red Riding Hood and Wrath of the Titans for the studio. More recently he worked on Warners’ Aquaman, which grossed over $1 billion, and wrote the sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which will open in December 2023. Warners clearly likes the cut of his jib, as it also hired him to deliver a draft of a sequel to Flash, the DC movie that doesn’t open until June 23, 2023.
The writer, who started his career as a production assistant on Frank Darabont’s Shawshank Redemption and then worked five years as the filmmaker’s personal assistant, is repped by CAA and attorney Howard Abramson at Behr Abramson.
A previous version misstated the title for the upcoming Aquaman sequel.
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