There are several ways to watch Universe movies in order. The horror franchise is one of the most consistently successful cinematic universes, having spawned several high-grossing individual series amid an expanded canon that continues to grow. The Nun 2, which premiered in 2023, is the ninth movie in the overarching franchise and sequel to the first The Nun movie that came out in 2018. This will be followed by the fourth movie in The Conjuring Universe movie series, The Conjuring: Last Rites.

Watching The Conjuring Universe movies in order is tricky because the actual timeline is scattered across a number of sequels and prequels. Some are filled with crucial information, while others only contain the slightest hint they're part of something greater in the story of the Warrens and the demonic entities they've encountered. To help make the most out of their horror viewing experience, three distinct watch orders for the movies can be deduced, with each having its own advantage in of understanding the complete Conjuring Universe timeline.

Conjuring Movies In Release Order

There's A Decades Worth Of Movies In The Conjurverse

The Conjuring movies in release order span 9 movies from 2013 through to 2023, starting with The Conjuring and ending with 2023's The Nun 2. This is the order many fans will have already seen the films, at least on first viewing. While the actual story-telling here is scattered — The Nun is an origin story for the villain in The Conjuring 2, for example — there is a steady flow that's easy to follow. There are currently 3 movies in the core The Conjuring trilogy, with the remaining 6 films in the franchise being spinoffs.

Viewers can see everything expand outward from The Conjuring, and all the hints and callbacks between the various movies are placed with this progression in mind, which is the main advantage of watching The Conjuring movies in order of release date. This is the way the writers intended viewers to experience the complete Conjuring Universe timeline.

Conjuring Movies In Chronological Order

The Movies In The Conjurverse Take Place Between 1952 And 1981

There's been a new movie in The Conjuring universe almost every year without exception since the first arrived in 2013. However, The Conjuring timeline doesn't follow the cinematic release order at all. There are numerous prequels and time-jumps between the main The Conjuring trilogy and the three sequels. What's more, the real Ed and Lorraine Warren mainly operated in the 1950s through to the 1980s, meaning that none of the movies are set during the year of release.

Though not altogether the best, seeing The Conjuring movies in order of chronology is preferred by franchise purists. The problem with this order lies in the ties Annabelle and The Curse of La Llorona have to The Conjuring, The Conjuring 2, and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. The Annabelle trilogy is largely self-contained, and with Annabelle being what bridges The Curse of La Llorona to everything else, audiences essentially get a trilogy and a quadrilogy that are only related because the doll from one is visible in the other. Unfortunately, this lessens the impact and feeling of a larger world.

Recommended Conjuring Movies Viewing Order

The Best Way To Enjoy The Movies Isn't The Chronological Or Release Order

The most enjoyable way to take in the franchise is viewing the spinoffs book-ended with The Conjuring movies. With how much The Conjuring sets up what comes after, it really has to go first to absorb the narrative in totality. Next is the Annabelle trilogy in chronological order, followed by The Curse of La Llorona, which plants the seed of a multicultural universe waiting for the Warrens. The Nun comes next, followed by The Conjuring 2, The Nun 2, and, finally, the third Conjuring movie.

Everything flows from and back to the Warrens and their paranormal studies, until the exorcism of Arne Cheyenne Johnson in The Conjuring 3. Viewing The Conjuring movies in order of both chronology and how they were intended to be released provides the best experience. As The Conjuring: Last Rites is already in the works, Ed and Lorraine Warrens' battle against the forces of evil has a few more rounds to go before The Conjuring Universe will let them rest.

Which Conjuring Movies Are The Best?

There Are Clear Highs And Lows In The Conjuring Franchise

Deciding which The Conjuring movie is the best will always be subjective, as every fan will their own choice for the film they consider to be the high point of the Conjurverse. However, despite individual opinions, there are definitely some The Conjuring movies that are more successful than others, and looking at the wider franchise through different lenses gives varying answers to the question of what's the best Conjuring movie.

Something that definitely needs consideration when trying to figure out which Conjuring movie is the best is that, as a franchise, audiences and critics vary wildly in their opinion. Professional reviewers and casual moviegoers often find themselves atodds, but few series illustrate this trend quite as clearly. Going by Rotten Tomatoes for a basic snapshot, audiences seem to rank The Conjuring movies in the following order:

As far as critics are concerned, the best movie in the franchise is still The Conjuring. After this, the series has mostly gone downhill as far as professional reviews go, though the Annabelle sequels stand out as being superior to The Nun movies and The Conjuring 3. Looking at audience rankings tells a different story. Audiences seem to agree with critics that the Conjurverse started strong, but there are also some considerable changes in ranking for the various entries.

For fans, the best The Conjuring movie is a tie between the first film and The Devil Made Me Do It. The Conjuring 3 was received significantly better by audiences than critics, as was The Nun II. However, since it's the top ranking for both viewers and critics, and helped spawn the franchise, it's not controversial to say that the best The Conjuring movie is still The Conjuring.

The Future Of The Conjuring Universe

There Are More Conjuring Movies To Come

The most recent Conjuring movie was 2023's The Nun 2. However, there are still more movies planned in The Conjuring franchise, and there is also a possible TV show in the works too. The next confirmed movie is the fourth in the main series. The Conjuring 4 will be titled The Conjuring: Last Rites, and will be a direct sequel to The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. At the time of writing, the release date for the next The Conjuring movie is set for September 2025.

There is also a The Conjuring TV show reportedly in the works. Peter Safran and James Wan are set as executive producers, and it's being developed as a streaming exclusive for Max. Little is known about the plot, though it's been hinted that it will be set after the events of the movies. Outside the TV show and Last Rites, there have been many rumored projects — such as the now-canceled The Crooked Man spin-off – though nothing has been confirmed yet beyond the various directors and producers of The Conjuring movies stating they'd be interested in developing the various ghosts and demons of the franchise further.