Movies
Confirmed: ‘The Curse of La Llorona’ Is DEFINITELY Not Part of the Official ‘Conjuring Universe’
Depending on who you ask, this year’s The Nun II is either the eighth or ninth film in Warner Bros. and New Line’s The Conjuring Universe, and that’s because 2019’s The Curse of La Llorona was never actually marketed as being part of the universe, despite having a clear connection to it. So what’s the story there? Is it a Conjuring movie or is it not?
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly in celebration of The Conjuring‘s 10th anniversary, La Llorona director Michael Chaves confirms that it’s NOT an official Conjuring movie. This despite the fact that Tony Amendola reprises his role as Father Perez from the first Annabelle movie, while The Curse of La Llorona also features a cameo from Annabelle herself.
“There’s so much debate about it and I think I’ve played coy in the past,” Chaves tells EW. “The idea was that [the Annabelle cameo] was going to be this little hidden thing that you were going to discover as you watch the movie. One of the reasons that it couldn’t formally be a part of the Conjuring Universe is it didn’t include one of the key producers, Peter Safran. The Conjuring is his baby, him and James, and they are still the two core producers on it.”
Chaves continues, “Peter still gave his permission to let [Annabelle] be in there. The funny thing is that it was supposed to be a secret, it was supposed to be this Easter Egg, and [when the film premiered at] SXSW, there was a slip-up. The presenter introduced the movie as the next entry in the Conjuring universe. So that was a big kind of faux pas.
“It was a big mess-up, and that’s the truth of how that all came together.”
The Conjuring Universe producer Peter Safran also tells Entertainment Weekly that The Curse of La Llorona is most definitely “not part of The Conjuring universe.”
“You can’t count it!” Safran tells EW. “It periodically gets lumped in because of Chaves and because of Atomic Monster, but it is not officially part of the universe. By the way, I think Chaves did a great job on the movie, which is why we stole him for the Conjuring universe.”
Safran is referring to the fact that Michael Chaves went on to direct mainline sequel The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and Chaves is also the director of this year’s The Nun II.
One thing we have to mention about The Curse of La Llorona is that it didn’t quite scare up as much money as Conjuring Universe movies typically do, considered by those who count it among the universe to be the franchise’s lowest grossing movie to date. The film made $123 million worldwide, while the rest of the installments are in the $200 – $300 million range.
Perhaps The Curse of La Llorona would be officially considered part of the universe had it reached those same heights at the box office? We can’t help but wonder. But we’ll accept the official confirmation that it’s NOT part of the universe, and we’ll carry on with our lives.
Does this sit well with you? Feel free to comment below with your two cents…
The buried origins of the cinema zombie will be explored in upcoming documentary Black Zombie, and Deadline reports that Kino Lorber has picked up the doc for U.S. release.
Kino Lorber will release Black Zombie in theaters later this year.
From writer and director Maya Annik Bedward, Black Zombie digs beneath the blood-soaked spectacle of modern horror to uncover the zombie’s buried and unsettling origins.
Long before it became associated with flesh-eating ghouls, the zombie was a living metaphor for slavery: not a monster, but the ultimate victim of colonial power.
Deadline further details, “Director Maya Annik Bedward traces the evolution of the zombie from colonial Haiti to contemporary Hollywood, reconsidering iconic films like White Zombie, Night of the Living Dead, and The Serpent and the Rainbow alongside archival footage, vérité scenes, and interviews with cultural historians, artists, and genre legends including Yves-Grégory Francois, Mambo Labelle Déesse, Slash, Tom Savini, and Zandashé Brown. Part cultural reckoning, part horror remix, Black Zombie exposes how a figure born from enslavement, spiritual belief, and resistance was transformed into one of pop culture’s most profitable monsters.”
“I’m thrilled to partner with Kino Lorber on the release of Black Zombie,” said Maya Annik Bedward. “The film explores the power of images to shape our understanding of history, culture, and race, making it especially meaningful to work with a distributor so deeply engaged with cinema’s past and present. Their passion for films that challenge, illuminate, and expand our understanding of the world makes them an ideal partner for bringing this story to audiences across the U.S.”
Kino Lorber’s Karoliina Dwyer adds, “The zombie is one of the most iconic images in cinema, and you’ll never look at them the same after watching Black Zombie. Maya Annik Bedward has crafted a fascinating, deeply researched documentary that unearths the long-buried Haitian origins of the genre, interrogating colonial, political, and Hollywood history to powerful and illuminating effect. We’re so proud to bring this documentary to U.S. audiences this fall.”
Executive producers for the documentary include music legend Slash.
‘I Walked With a Zombie’ (1943)
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