Annabelle (film)

Annabelle is a 2014 American supernatural horror film directed by John R. Leonetti, written by Gary Dauberman and produced by Peter Safran and James Wan. It is a prequel to 2013's The Conjuring and the second installment in The Conjuring Universe. The film was inspired by a story of a doll named Annabelle told by Ed and Lorraine Warren. The film stars Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Alfre Woodard and Tony Amendola.

It premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on September 29, 2014, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 3, 2014, by Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics, many of whom felt the film inferior to its predecessor, but it was a box office success, grossing over $257 million against its $6.5 million production budget. A prequel, titled Annabelle: Creation, was released on August 11, 2017, and a sequel, Annabelle Comes Home, was released on June 19, 2019.

Synopsis
John Form (Ward Horton) thinks he's found the perfect gift for his expectant wife, Mia (Annabelle Wallis): a vintage doll in a beautiful white dress. However, the couple's delight doesn't last long. One terrible night, devil worshippers invade their home and launch a violent attack against the couple. When the cultists try to summon a demon, they smear a bloody rune on the nursery wall and drip blood on Mia's doll, thereby turning the former object of beauty into a conduit for ultimate evil.

Plot
The film starts with the same opening scene of the film The Conjuring, in which two young women, Debbie and Camilla, and a young man, Rick, are telling Ed and Lorraine Warren about their experience with the doll that they believe to be haunted, known as Annabelle.

One year earlier in 1970, John and Mia Form are expecting their first child, Leah. At church, the couple talks to their neighbors, Pete and Sharon Higgins, over baby names. John is obviously nervous and not completely ready for it, even commenting on that to Mia. She is upset by his attitude toward the pregnancy, but he apologizes to her and gives her a doll that she's been trying to find for ages. Mia loves it and puts it with the rest of her dolls.

One day, Mia has the television on and the news is reporting about the Manson Family cult and the Tate-LaBianca murders. Manson is shown on the TV screen, having recently been arrested. John tells Mia she shouldn't expose the unborn child to such negative images.

At night, there appears to be a murder happening in the house next door at the Higgins home. It wakes Mia up. She tells John and he goes over to investigate. He runs out of the neighbor's house covered in blood (not his), telling Mia to call 911. She does and is about to head back outside when she hears a voice telling her it likes Mia's dolls. Mia stands back frightened when she hears it, and a man covered in blood appears from behind her in the closet, stabbing her in the side. John runs in and fights the man, while a woman is also there trying to attack the couple. Police arrive and shoot the man dead while the woman kills herself in another room. She left a bloody symbol drawn on the wall while holding Mia's new doll. A drop of her blood falls on the doll's face and sinks into its eye.

A news report is shown that the assailants were Annabelle Higgins and her boyfriend. They murdered her parents and are said to have been part of a demonic cult.

The doctors say that Mia's baby is fine but there was damage to her cervix. She is ordered to stay bedridden for the remainder of her pregnancy.

John takes care of Mia as she recovers. Thinking the doll is creepy and involved with the mysterious happenings, Mia asks John to throw it away. He dumps it in a bin outside. Later, John is about to make Mia some Jiffy Pop popcorn until she falls asleep.

The next day, Mia is sewing and watching TV, while in the kitchen, the stove turns on by itself and heats up the Jiffy Pop. Mia cuts her finger on the sewing machine and tends to it, not aware when the Jiffy Pop catches fire. She smells the smoke and sees the fire. She tries to run out of the house, tripping over a chair, falling on her stomach, she then starts to crawl but is then dragged by an unseen force. A group of men run into the house and pull her out.

John, who works at the hospital, runs to find Mia. She is unharmed, and what's more, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. They decide to name her Leah.

The family moves into a new apartment since Mia is afraid to return home. In their new place, Mia unpacks her dolls and finds that one doll (whom shall be referred to as Annabelle from here) in one of the boxes. Mia just places it alongside the other dolls.

As expected, more strange activity plagues Mia and her new baby. Mia meets two neighbor children, Robert and Nancy, that are coloring on the stairwell. The girl tries to introduce herself but her brother tells her not to say anything to Mia since she's a stranger. When Mia returns home, she sees the drawings from the kids, which show a continuous animation of Mia wheeling Lea in the carriage and letting it go in the path of a truck, where Leah is dead. Horrified, Mia shows the pictures to John.

On another occasion, Mia is alone and thinks she sees the ghost of a young girl. The door closes, and the girl starts to run to the door, then turning into the adult Annabelle Higgins. She disappears.

Mia contacts the Detective Clarkin that told them earlier about the murders Annabelle and her boyfriend committed. He informs her of their history in the cult called The Disciples of the Ram that seeks to summon a demon by claiming a soul. This also explains the symbol that Mia keeps seeing.

Mia goes to a bookstore run by a woman named Evelyn. She gets a book called "The Devil's Welcome". From that, Mia determines that the presence that is haunting her wants a soul - Leah's.

The couple contacts their church's priest, Father Perez. He takes Annabelle (who looks more gray and scary with bloodshot eyes) with him to church. The ghost of Annabelle is nearby, along with a demonic-looking creature. Perez enters the church but is blown back by a powerful force and is thrown on his back, he is hurt badly, and the ghost snatches the doll.

John treats Perez at the hospital while Mia meets with Evelyn. Evelyn tells Mia that she had a daughter named Ruby that was around Mia's age when she died. Ruby died in a car accident caused by Evelyn. She was so distraught and guilt-ridden that she attempted suicide by cutting her wrists. However, she claims to have heard Ruby's voice telling her that it wasn't her time.

Perez warns John that it was indeed Annabelle's spirit that caused his injuries, and that she will take a soul that night. John rushes to warn Mia. In the apartment, the demonic presence haunts Mia and Evelyn. It pushes Evelyn out of the apartment and taunts Mia by locking her outside of Leah's room where the baby sits beneath the bookshelf. Heavy books fall around her while Mia screams for her baby. Annabelle (the doll) falls down and stares at Mia. Mia breaks the doorknob and runs in to grab Leah. Then, the doll appears to stand up on its own. It then seems to float in mid-air, but it's really being controlled by the demon. All around the room, "her soul" is written in red crayon. Mia grabs the doll and bashes it against Lea's crib and throws it on the floor. The doll then appears to turn into Leah, bloodied and dead. Mia runs over to her and cries, thinking she's killed her baby. It then turns into one of Mia's giggling dolls. She screams and asks what the demon wants. The window then opens amidst whispering sounds, with "your soul" written across it.

John runs home as Evelyn is trying to open the door. They both break it open to find Mia ready to jump out the window with Annabelle in her hands. John pulls Mia back in before she jumps, saying there must be another way. Evelyn grabs Annabelle and decides to make the sacrifice, knowing this is the way she can atone for Ruby's death. She plunges out of the window and hits the pavement. Leah is then heard in her crib, safe and sound. John and Mia mourn Evelyn but embrace their daughter.

Six months later, the Forms have moved on and have not seen Annabelle since then. Elsewhere, a woman (the mother of one of the girls in the opening) comes into a store looking for a present for her daughter. She then spots a doll that is said to be a rare collector's item. That's when she purchases Annabelle.

The ending text says that the Annabelle doll resides in a case in Ed and Lorraine Warren's little museum, and that it's blessed by a priest twice a month. There is also a quote from Lorraine Warren that says evil is real, and while we can contain it, we can never get rid of it. The camera then lingers on Annabelle as though she'll make a move, before cutting to black.

Cast

 * Annabelle Wallis as Mia Form
 * Ward Horton as John Form
 * Alfre Woodard as Evelyn
 * Tony Amendola as Father Perez
 * Kerry O'Malley as Sharon Higgins
 * Brian Howe as Pete Higgins
 * Eric Ladin as Detective Clarkin
 * Gabriel Bateman as Robert
 * Shiloh Nelson as Nancy
 * Tree O'Toole as Annabelle Higgins/Janice
 * Keira Daniels as 7-year-old Annabelle Higgins
 * Morganna Bridgers as Debbie
 * Amy Tipton as Camilla
 * Zach Pappas as Rick
 * Joseph Bishara as Demon
 * Ivar Brogger as Dr. Burgher
 * Geoff Wehner as Neighbor
 * Robin Pearson Rose as the Mother
 * Camden Singer as Clerk
 * Sasha Sheldon as Nurse
 * Christopher Shaw as Fuller

Development
The film is a spin of the 2013 horror film The Conjuring, focusing on the origins of the Annabelle doll found in that film. The film was designed to be stand alone yet collectively catering to fans of The Conjuring who would already be familiar with the latter film. To Backstage.com, the film was one of the first in a new strategy by distributors Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema "that capitalizes on the built-in fan bases for successful films, allowing for smaller budgets and production time with a bigger payout on the back end."

Casting
Casting was announced in January 2014, with Annabelle Wallis and Ward Horton playing the lead roles. with actors Eric Ladin, Brian Howe and Alfre Woodard also being announced that month.

Filming
Principal photography began on January 27, 2014, at The Book Shop in Covina, California. On February 25, 2014, filming continued at an apartment on South Normandie Avenue in Los Angeles County, where the 55-member crew shot for several days. Director Leonetti and producer Safran told reporters that the Annabelle set was "haunted" and that they thought "supernatural phenomena" had occurred there. The film was shot in sequence so that the actors were always aware of their emotional arcs.

Music
On April 24, 2014, Joseph Bishara was hired to compose the music for the film. WaterTower Music released the soundtrack album on September 30, 2014.

Box Office
Annabelle grossed $84.3 million in North America and $172.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $257 million, against a production budget of $6.5 million. In the United States and Canada, Annabelle is the fourteenth highest-grossing horror/supernatural film.

Early tracking projected Annabelle would gross around $25–27 million in its opening weekend. However, estimates declined shortly after to a range between $20–22 million. Annabelle was released on October 3, 2014, in 3,185 theatres in North America. It topped the box office in its opening day earning $15.4 million (including its $2.1 million midnight previews). In its traditional three-day opening the film debuted at #2 at the box office with $37.1 million, at an average of $11,659 per theater from 3,185 theaters after a neck-and-neck competition against Gone Girl that earned $37.5 million. The two releases were separated by $378,854. Its opening weekend gross is the eleventh highest in October and the biggest for a horror genre film of 2014, surpassing The Purge: Anarchy 's $28.9 million opening. Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros., said about the opening box office performance, "we had a wonderful campaign for the film and a good date"; she added "being a spinoff of The Conjuring set it up really well and we just hit the right note." It is the second time that an October weekend has produced two $30 million or more debuts; the first was in 2008: High School Musical 3 ($42 million) and Saw V ($31 million). To Rentrak, the opening weekend crowd was evenly split between females with 51% and under 25 years with 54%. The film's theatrical run ended on December 18, 2014, and it earned a total of $84 million, becoming the thirty-fifth highest-grossing movie of 2014 in the US.

The film was released in Russia on September 26, 2014, a week prior to its wide release and earned $2.1 million on its opening weekend, debuting at No. 3 at the Russian box office. Overseas, in its opening weekend the film earned $23.6 million from nearly 3,300 screen and 39 foreign markets for a first-weekend worldwide total of $60.8 million.

High openings of Annabelle internationally were reported in France ($3.4 million), Brazil ($3 million), the UK ($3.1 million), Argentina ($1.2 million), Spain ($1.45 million) and Germany ($1.14 million). In India Annabelle debuted at #2 behind Bollywood blockbuster Bang Bang! and collected $1.3 million. It set an all-time opening record for a horror film in Peru with $1.34 million which is also Warner Bros. second biggest opening weekend of all time there overall. In Mexico, the film earned $10.9 million (including previews) on its opening weekend and broke the record for the biggest debut ever for a horror movie, and the best 2D opening. Its opening weekend gross is also the third-biggest opening overall of 2014 behind Maleficent and Transformers: Age of Extinction there. In total, the film took 59% of the total market share.

As of October 13, 2014, Annabelle has become the highest-grossing horror film in the Philippines, earning over ₱121.33 million. The film surpassed Insidious: Chapter 2 's record (₱113 million), doing so after 12 days of release. The film has also become the highest-grossing horror movie in Lebanon after staying atop the box office for two weekends.

Critical Response
Annabelle received generally negative reviews from critics, many of whom felt the film inferior to its predecessor. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 29% based on 135 reviews, with an average rating of 4.50/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Annabelle borrows unabashedly from better horror films, content to leave viewers with a string of cheap jolts that fail to build on the far more effective The Conjuring." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 37 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the film for its cheap production and screenplay, but was positive towards the performances of the cast and saying, "the film is ultimately so scary and formulaic that you won't forget it."

Scott Foundas of Variety gave the film a positive review, calling the film "inspired" but periodically cheap. He added "a cut-rate spinoff from James Wan's superlative haunted-house hit The Conjuring that (partly) makes up in crude shock effects, but lacks in atmosphere. Designed mainly as a starring vehicle for the eponymous, creepy-as-hell doll (who easily outclasses her human co-stars), this WB/New Line quickie is the thirst of die-hard genre fans and is by the far the best horror movie of the year".

Pete Hammond of Deadline gave the film a positive review and said that the scary doll show has left him pining for Chucky in Child's Play. He further added, "Annabelle may still draw horror fans in this Halloween month, and they will be quaking over the scares in this film."

Prequel
(Main article: Annabelle: Creation)

In October 2014, Fellman told The Washington Post that the studio was considering a series based on the film, with a sequel already in the works. In October 2015, it was reported that Gary Dauberman would be returning to write the script. On March 22, 2016, Warner Bros. slated the film for release on May 19, 2017, with Lights Out director David F. Sandberg directing the film.

In June 2016, Miranda Otto and Stephanie Sigman were cast to star in the prequel. The story centers on a dollmaker, and his wife (Otto) whose daughter tragically dies. Twelve years later they decide to open their home to a nun (Sigman) and several girls from a shuttered orphanage. When the dollmaker's possessed creation Annabelle sets her sights on the children, it turns their shelter into a storm of horror.

Sequel
(Main Article: Annabelle Comes Home)

In April 2018, Warner Bros. announced July 3, 2019, as the release date for an as-yet untitled new film in The Conjuring franchise. Later that month, it was announced that the film would be a third Annabelle film, with Gary Dauberman signed on to write and direct, in his directorial debut. James Wan and Peter Safran would co-produce the project. The film's title, Annabelle Comes Home, was revealed in March 2019. In May 2019, the film's release date was changed to June 26, 2019.

Popular Culture/Short Film
On October 27, 2021, Warner Bros C.E.O. Jason Kilar announced the new YouTube video calling "Annabelle in Quarantine" was released. The short film follows Annabelle in the Warner Bros headquarters which she was bored in quarantine.