She’s back! From New Line Cinema comes Annabelle: Creation, the followup to 2014’s hit horror film Annabelle, directed by David F. Sandberg. The first trailer was unveiled at Saturday’s WonderCon and has now made its way online.
During Warner Bros. panel at today’s event, Sandberg appeared for a brief discussion of his upcoming film. A fan of director James Wan — a “modern master of horror” — Sandberg described his excitement in stepping into the world Wan had conjured with The Conjuring. “That was the fun thing, because James set up this universe so great with the first Conjuring, which I was a huge fan of,” the director said. “It has this sort of classic horror movie feel—more old school. So this was my chance to do my version of an old school horror movie.”
In Annabelle: Creation, several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, soon becoming the target of the dollmaker’s possessed creation, Annabelle.
The director also discussed the framing of his film as a prequel and origin story of Annabelle, a character previously introduced in the Conjuring films. “This is a prequel; hence, the Creation title. We actually see her being made, which was really fun for me,” he said of the possessed doll at the crux of the film. “I probably wouldn’t have been as interested in making it if it had been a straight continuation of the first movie.”
The horror film stars Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman, Lulu Wilson, Philippa Coulthard, Grace Fulton, Anthony LaPaglia and Miranda Otto.
Annabelle scared up nearly $257 million at the worldwide box office during its run in theaters, with the entire Conjuring franchise generating $895 million at the global box office.
The new film is once again being produced by Peter Safran and Wan, who previously partnered on The Conjuring movies. Richard Brener, Walter Hamada, Dave Neustadter and Hans Ritter executive produce. Sandberg directs from a screenplay by Gary Dauberman, who also wrote Annabelle.
Annabelle: Creation arrives in theaters on August 11, 2017. Watch the trailer above.
