Warner has delayed The Conjuring 2 until 2016, pushing it back from its initial Halloween 2015 release slot to make room for a currently untitled horror project.
The studio has previously been remarkably bullish regarding the series, having begun development on a sequel before the first film had even been released, only to see that confidence rewarded by a $300 million take worldwide.
That first film was followed by recent spin-off, Annabelle , which has also performed extremely strongly, hitting $166 million worldwide in its first few weeks of release.
Perhaps Warner are now wary of franchise fatigue, because there will now be a two year wait before Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return for the first sequel proper.
Deadline speculates that the replacement film could either be Crawlspace , in which Michael Vartan plays a widower moving into a creepy new home, or Superstition , a new Blumhouse production that also sees a young family move into a haunted house.
