Coming on the heels of directing one of this year's biggest hits, Furious 7 director James Wan is returning to his horror roots, revealing on his Twitter and Instagram pages that principal photography has started on The Conjuring: The Enfield Poltergeist. The director shared the first photo from the "fogbound backyard" set, while the official New Line Cinema Twitter account shared another photo, featuring an actual priest blessing the set before production began. It isn't known where production is taking place quite yet, but hopefully the director keeps sharing more images from the set as shooting continues.
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return as Ed Warren and Lorraine Warren from 2013's The Conjuring, which was a massive box office hit for New Line. The thriller took in $137.4 million domestically and $318 million worldwide, from just a $20 million production budget. Frances O'Connor joins the cast for this horror sequel, reportedly portraying a mother whose daughter is being haunted by supernatural forces. The supporting cast includes Shannon Kook-Chun and Jennifer Collins.
No specific plot details have been confirmed at this time, except that the story will continue to follow the real-life paranormal investigations of Ed Warren and Lorraine Warren. Their cases served as the inspiration for horror movie classics such as The Amityville Horror, and they have also appeared on TV shows such as Paranormal State and Unexplained Mysteries. Lorraine Warren served as a consultant on The Conjuring, but it isn't known if she will be back for the sequel. Ed Warren passed away in 2006.
The Conjuring writers Chad Hayes and Carey Hayes are back to write The Conjuring 2, with director James Wan also producing alongside Rob Cowan and Peter Safran. Walter Hamada and Dave Neustadter are serving as executive producers. It isn't known how long production is currently slated to last for, but we'll keep you posted with more updates as shooting continues.
New Line Cinema has already set a June 10, 2016 release date for The Conjuring: The Enfield Poltergeist, which puts the sequel up against Lionsgate's Now You See Me 2: The Second Act and Universal's highly-anticipated video game adaptation Warcraft. With production starting today, that gives director James Wan less than nine months to complete principal photography and post-production. While we wait for more details on this sequel, check out the first photos from the set.