The Conjuring was such a breath of fresh air within the horror genre that Warner Bros. almost immediately began developing an interconnected universe , which included spin-offs that didn’t feature Ed ( Patrick Wilson ) and Lorraine Warren ( Vera Farmiga ). Although theoretically, this could have given the franchise an opportunity to do something new and exciting, the 2014 prequel Annabelle felt like a cheap knock-off that was far too derivative of what James Wan had already done. It would have been easy to dismiss all future spin-offs to The Conjuring as cynical endeavors, but Annabelle: Creation was the rare franchise prequel that deepened the mythology and told its own story . While it added context to The Conjuring that made it more emotionally satisfying, it a
Long Before 'Last Rites,' This Fantastic Conjuring Spin-off Proved the Franchise Could Expand Without the Warrens

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