The first The Conjuring film got a spin-off, Annabelle, that was so success it spawned a franchise of its own. So it made sense when it was announced that The Conjuring 2 was going to get two spin-offs. One was The Nun, which did well enough to get a sequel. The other was The Crooked Man. But eight years have passed since The Crooked Man was first announced, and there was no sign that it was ever close to production. Two years ago, producer James Wan confirmed that the project had been scrapped for reasons beyond his control… but in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Wan admitted that he would still love to make the film.
Years ago, Wan told Entertainment Weekly that “What we want to do, with the Conjuring Universe, is we want each of our little offshoots to have a very different flavor, right? So, for example, Annabelle is the classic sort-of haunted doll subgenre. And with The Crooked Man, I would love to push it more down somewhat of that dark fairytale, and more whimsical, subgenre. I love the idea that, within the Conjuring Universe, each of our little movies all have their own flavor, so that way they don’t feel like they’re the same films.” Wan said there was a really exciting story in place for The Crooked Man, but he never shared any details.
During the new interview, Wan said, “I still have a movie in my head that I would hopefully love to get off the ground one day, but we’ll see. I get fans that reach out to me every now and then, begging us to make a Crooked Man movie. Just as a fan, I would love to do it one day, if I can convince the studio to do so.” Wan’s fellow Conjuring franchise producer Peter Safran said, “We thought the Crooked Man was basically going to be the Annabelle for Conjuring 2… but when the audience saw the movie, they wanted to know more about the nun. That’s what they gravitated towards. So you got to listen to your fans, you got to listen to the audience.“
I never thought making a movie about the Crooked Man was a particularly good idea, but since there are fans out there who want to see it, and Wan wants to do it, I say Warner Bros. might as well just go ahead and give it the greenlight.
Would you like to see James Wan get the chance to make the Crooked Man movie? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Entertainment Weekly
