The Conjuring Franchise in Release Order
The Conjuring film series, produced by New Line Cinema and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, began with The Conjuring in 2013 and expanded into a multi-franchise universe. The mainline films follow a release order that starts with The Conjuring (2013), continues with Annabelle: Creation (2017), The Conjuring 2 (2016), Annabelle Comes Home (2019), The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021), and extends into the spin-off The Nun (2018) and its sequel The Nun II (2023). The franchise is anchored by James Wan as director and creator, with Peter Safran serving as producer across the core entries, and the stories are adapted from real-life cases documented by paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, as noted by the official franchise overview on the Warner Bros. Pictures website Warner Bros. Pictures.
Box office performance reinforces the release-order timeline, with The Conjuring (2013) earning over $319 million worldwide, The Conjuring 2 (2016) surpassing $320 million, and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) reaching more than $200 million globally, according to industry tracking data from Box Office Mojo Box Office Mojo. Annabelle: Creation (2017) grossed over $300 million, while The Nun (2018) collected more than $365 million, making it the highest-grossing entry in the spin-off branch. Annabelle Comes Home (2019) earned roughly $230 million, and The Nun II (2023) added another $260 million to the cumulative total, cementing the series as one of the highest-grossing horror franchises in modern cinema.
The Conjuring Franchise in Chronological Order
When arranged by in-universe chronology, the timeline starts in the early 1970s with the Perron family haunting depicted in The Conjuring (1971 case), followed by the origin of the Annabelle doll in Annabelle: Creation (1955), and the Enfield Poltergeist case in The Conjuring 2 (1977). The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (1981) continues the mainline chronology, while the Annabelle spin-offs fill in earlier decades of the doll's history, and The Nun (1952) and The Nun II (1956) anchor the darkest timeline entries around the demonic entity Valak. This chronological sequence highlights how the Warrens' case files connect to broader supernatural events across multiple decades and locations.
Key Timeline Milestones
Within the chronological framework, the earliest referenced events include the 1952 Romanian monastery incident in The Nun, followed by the 1955 Annabelle doll origin in Annabelle: Creation. The mid-1970s Perron family case in The Conjuring and the 1977 Enfield Poltergeist in The Conjuring 2 form the central narrative spine, while the 1981 murder case in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It introduces a courtroom defense angle. The spin-off films expand the timeline with the Annabelle doll's movements through the 1940s to 1970s, and The Nun II returns to the 1956 events in post-war France, linking the broader New Line Cinema horror universe through shared