Hey folks, remember THE CONJURING 2? It's still in theaters, and in its sixth week it has run screaming across the $300 million mark worldwide. That brings the entire franchise (including the lucrative spinoff ANNABELLE) to a plump box office take of $884 million, making it the third highest grossing horror franchise of all time, knocking SAW out of its cushy position.
This is pretty astonishing, considering that these three entries are second only to the RESIDENT EVIL ($915.7M) franchise and the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY ($889.5M) movies, which have five and six(ish) entries respectively. Just one more CONJURING could knock both of those franchises right off the map. With ANNABELLE 2 poised to swoop in next May, the James Wan-helmed franchise might become the highest grossing horror series of all time.
Honestly, I don't think I'd mind if they knocked RESIDENT EVIL off its perch. Although the ANNABELLE films are iffy, I don't think there's any argument that the CONJURINGS are much more respectable than the video game-adapted franchise.
The fact that horror is raking in so much money is incredible news for genre fans everywhere, because that means that studios will have absolutely zero qualms about greenlighting more and more flicks designed to tingle the spine.