James Wan has revealed the first look image for Annabelle Comes Home. Without a doubt, Wan has had an enormous impact on the horror landscape over the last fifteen years. The filmmaker's original Saw movie helped coin the phrase "torture porn" in 2004 and gave rise to a franchise that now spans eight installments (and counting). Since then, Wan has focused more on horror films of the supernatural variety and helped launch both The Conjuring universe and Insidious movie series.

Wan has so far directed two Conjuring movies, including the original 2013 film and its sequel. Meanwhile, the franchise at large has expanded to encompass multiple spinoffs, including a pair of prequels about the demonically possessed Annabelle doll and another prequel about The Conjuring 2 villain Valak, aka. The Nun. A third Annabelle spinoff is scheduled to arrive this summer and only recently gained an official title, in the form of Annabelle Comes Home. Wan is now doing his part to promote the movie and has even confirmed Annabelle's cameo in Aquaman last year (well, sorta confirmed).

The Aquaman director has posted a (creepy) first look at Annabelle Comes Home to his official Instagram account, as you can see below. Although Wan doesn't mention anything about the movie's trailer in his post, it's speculated that the Annabelle Comes Home teaser will arrive alongside Pet Sematary in theaters next week. At the latest, the trailer should drop with The Curse of La Llorona in late April.


Annabelle Comes Home marks the directing debut for Gary Dauberman, who also wrote the first two Annabelle movies (Annabelle and Annabelle: Creation) and The Nun. Whereas the previous three spinoffs took place prior to the first Conjuring film, this entry actually picks up shortly after Ed and Lorraine Warren encounter the demonic Annabelle doll for the first time in Wan's original movie. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are even reprising their roles as the Warrens here, albeit in a more limited capacity. The film will instead take place while the Warrens are away one night, forcing their daughter, Judy (Mckenna Grace), to fight for her life when Annabelle re-awakens the malevolent spirits that've been lying dormant in the Warrens' cursed artifacts room.

Like the other Conjuring spinoffs, Annabelle Comes Home is only being produced by Wan. Unfortunately, the franchise has so far yielded decidedly mixed results when Wan hasn't been sitting in the director's chair. While all of the Conjuring prequels have been extremely profitable (thanks to their low budgets), the first Annabelle movie was generally derided by critics and The Nun didn't fare that much better. The lone exception to the rule is Annabelle: Creation, which was directed by Shazam! helmsman David F. Sandberg. The Annabelle Comes Home first look image is promising, but it might be best to wait for the actual trailer before getting your hopes up too high here, for that very reason.

Annabelle Comes Home (2019) release date: Jun 28, 2019