With "The Conjuring" earning $318 million worldwide, and the spinoff "Annabelle" up to $167 million and counting, Warner Bros. now realizes they have a viable horror franchise on their hands. While "The Conjuring 2" was originally set for an October 23, 2015 release next year, the studio clearly wants to get it right and has courted James Wan to come back and continue what he started. The director will be behind the camera for the sequel, which now lands sometime in 2016. WB division New Line can barely contain themselves. "We had a great experience with James on ‘The Conjuring,’ and we give him a lot of credit for that movie working so well,” said president/COO Toby Emmerich. “He worked on the screenplay and came to the table with very inventive things that were not in the script and cast it fantastically well. Add to that his work in producing ‘Annabelle,’ and he is one of the masters of the genre and we’re happy to have him. You go through the list of possible directors of ‘The Conjuring’ sequel, and his is the name you stop at, which is why we tried so hard to make this work.” But before Wan gets rolling on that movie, he’s got another sequel to finish first: "Fast & Furious 7." [Deadline]
Justin Timberlake only hires the best. After landing David Fincher for his "Suit & Tie" video, the actor/singer has tasked Jonathan Demme with filming the final shows of “The 20/20 Experience World Tour.” Of course, Demme is no slouch in the genre, with one of the very best concert movies ever, "Stop Making Sense," to his name. That said, no one is calling this a "concert movie" just yet, so it’ll be interesting to see what Demme and Timberlake come up with. [EW]
Oscar winner Danis Tanovic ("No Man’s Land") will helm "Invisible." Tena Stivicic penned the script that chronicles "the plight of immigrants in Britain." Production aims to begin mid-to-late 2015. [Screen Daily]