Annabelle Comes Home tells us the next horrific chapter of The Conjuring Universe as it continues the story post The Conjuring 2, and will act as a lead up to The Conjuring 3. The movie is going to hit the theatres this weekend, and it seems that WB has got themselves yet another winner in the ConVerse. With the Review Embargo lifted, Annabelle Comes Home stands midway, as it has got a fairly positive critical consensus until now.
It’s a bit early for the Rotten Tomatoes Score as only 29 reviews have come in. Out of them, 62% reviews are positive, which means that the critics so far have liked the film. Even after being the sixth entry in the franchise, the content hasn’t gone stale. There are still more than 300 reviews that are yet to come in, so we can assume that the score could get better or worse, or even stay stationary at the end. So let’s see what happens.
62% is a fairly good score from the critics considering that summer films lately haven’t been as great as they’ve been marketed. As far as the rest of the ConVerse is concerned, here’s how Annabelle 3 stands in like with the rest:
- The Conjuring – 86% Fresh
- Annabelle – 29% Rotten
- The Conjuring 2 – 79% Fresh
- Annabelle: Creation – 70% Fresh
- The Nun – 32% Rotten
- Annabelle Comes Home – 62%*
Now as far as the Box Office numbers are concerned, the predictions reported by Forbes suggest that Annabelle Comes Home is tracking a $35 Million opening weekend. This is pretty good compared to the other films in the franchise. If the film stands strong over the upcoming weekends, then it could end up making somewhere between 280-$350 Million, if not more.
The Conjuring opened with $41 Million and went on to make $319 Million worldwide. It was followed by Annabelle which opened with $37 Million and grossed $257 Million in total. Then came the sequels as The Conjuring 2 came out and earned $40 Million at its opening weekend, and then it went on to make $320 Million worldwide. Finally, Annabelle: Creation hit the theatres last year and it opened with the lowest opening weekend numbers thus far having brought in $35 Million. It then went on to bring in $306 Million worldwide.
So considering all these numbers, Annabelle 3 will do well for itself. Now let’s get to the reviews and see what the critics think of this film:
IndieWire – Eric Kohn
“Unlike the two-hour-plus Conjuring movies or the comparatively sprawling convent showdowns of The Nun, the new movie basically jams the archetypes of a John Hughes teen comedy into a minimalist haunted scenario. While that’s not enough to suppress the underlying gimmickry of the storytelling, Annabelle Comes Home at least manages to charm and frighten its way through the purest distillation of the Conjuring formula to date.”
You can read the full review here.
IGN – Juliet Bennett Rylah
“Instead of trying to out-creep The Conjuring, [Annabelle Comes Home] pivots into a lighter, simpler, funnier film with a tighter plot and a few fresh monsters (some of which fans of mythology and urban legends might recognize). If Annabelle Comes Home should be the last Annabelle-centric film in the series, it feels like a perfect final chapter.”
You can read the full review here.
Entertainment Weekly – Darren Franich
“Annabelle Comes Home is only a little scary, and too religiously dedicated to its own ongoing cash-printing megafranchise for big laughs. But the best moments in this low-key domestic horror film have a tossed-off quality, like the whole production cycle was a fun weekend for everybody.”
You can read the full review here.
Variety – Owen Gleiberman
“The grand result of all this cheesy metaphysical heavy lifting is that Annabelle Comes Home is a relentless but awkward throw-everything-at-the-viewer occult thriller that mixes ghosts, looming spirits, and — yes — inanimate objects coming to life, with the figure of Annabelle not so much at the scary center of the action as existing alongside it… Name your fear trigger, and it’s probably there, somewhere, in Annabelle Comes Home. It looks like a horror film, but it’s really the horror equivalent of speed dating.”
You can read the full review here.
The Hollywood Reporter – Justin Lowe
“With nearly all the action limited to an afternoon and a seemingly endless night of horror in the Warrens’ maze-like home, [Director Gary] Dauberman gives himself a compact, confined space to work with. Although it makes for an initially absorbing narrative and filmmaking challenge, with nowhere for the characters to run or hide, the thrills and shocks gradually become repetitive, as the writer-director recycles his own material, forcing the girls to evade the same threats again and again.”
You can read the full review here.
