The release calendar continues to get shuffled as studios are unsure when it will be safe for them to release their tentpole pictures. One of the latest films to get bumped is the latest The Conjuring sequel, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. The film was originally slated for release on September 11th of this year, but Warner Bros. clearly feels like the horror movie won’t be pulling in any audiences, especially with major metropolitan areas like Los Angeles have their movie theaters shut down. Instead, the studio has decided that the next Conjuring movie should hit screens on June 4, 2021.

For those wondering, “Well, why not release it on HBO Max?”, keep in mind that even though a Conjuring movie isn’t as expensive to make as something like Tenet, Warner Bros. gets far more on its return with a tentpole franchise like this. Right now, the best The Conjuring 3 could do for HBO Max is slightly boost subscription numbers, and there’s no knowing if those subscribers would stick around once they saw The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (there’s also the fact that it’s a lot easier to pirate a movie you’re streaming into people’s homes than one released into a movie theater). When you subtract all the revenue you’d made from a worldwide release and ancillary streams like secondary markets (hotels, airlines) and home entertainment, it’s better to just wait it out. The audience for another Conjuring movie will still be there.

Here’s the official synopsis for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It:

“The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” reveals a chilling story of terror, murder and unknown evil that shocked even experienced real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. One of the most sensational cases from their files, it starts with a fight for the soul of a young boy, then takes them beyond anything they’d ever seen before, to mark the first time in U.S. history that a murder suspect would claim demonic possession as a defense.