‘The Conjuring 4’ Finds Its Director With Michael Chaves (Exclusive)

New Line’s The Conjuring movie series is coming back for one last ride. Or one last rite, as it were.

The project, operating currently under the simple title of The Conjuring 4, has been in the works since early last year but has finally landed on a director. And it’s a familiar visage.

Michael Chaves, who helmed the previous installment, 2021’s The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, is in negotiations to direct what is being eyed as the fourth and final outing. The move makes Chaves a true Conjuring Universe player as he also directed last year’s spinoff, The Nun II.

David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who co-wrote the third installment with franchise creator James Wan, penned the screenplay.

Wan is producing with Peter Safran.

Plot details are being kept six feet under but once again supernatural investigators Ed and Lorrain Warren will face creaky doors, shadows in the windows, inverted crosses, and a demonic possession or two. Stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are expected to return and the feature is eyeing a summer shoot in Atlanta.

The Conjuring, made for just $20 million, became a runaway hit when it was released in 2013, scaring up almost $320 million worldwide. Since then, New Line has carefully laid out a Conjuring universe of movies, with sequels, prequels and spinoffs. All combined, the movies, made for modest budgets, have generated over $2.1 billion at the box office. Nun II, released Sept. 8, grossed just shy of $270 million worldwide.

Chaves was discovered by Wan and his Atomic Monster execs off of his award-winning horror short The Maiden, which got into the New Line door with his feature directorial debut, 2019’s The Curse of La Llorona. The movie did well and his work impressed, which led to Wan handing him the keys to the Conjuring franchise with Devil Made Me Do It.  He then moved to Nun II.  

Chaves is repped by CAA.