20 TERRIBLE Horror Movies That Were Huge Hits
18. Annabelle
The success of The Conjuring led Warner Bros. to fast-track development of spin-off Annabelle, a prequel centered around the creepy possessed doll introduced in the original film.
Annabelle ended up releasing in October 2014, barely a year after the release of the first Conjuring, and was widely panned for its generic story and characters, over-reliance on jump scares, and generally sauceless filmmaking approach compared to James Wan's stellar work on The Conjuring.
But on a budget of just $6.5 million, Annabelle nevertheless made an incredible $257.6 million, making it clear early on that this IP was going to be an absolute goliath. And that's been supported ever since by the several other indifferently received Conjuring-verse movies, each of which made hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office regardless of negative critical reception.
Barely a decade on, the nine Conjuring pictures have collectively grossed almost $2.8 billion worldwide on a combined budget of just $263 million.