By Travis Johnson
New Line Cinema’s the Conjuring 2 has just become the highest-grossing horror film of all time in Australia and New Zealand, taking $12.915 million across both territories.
That puts it ahead of The Others (2001, $10.73m), The Blair Witch Project (1999, $10.24m), The Conjuring (2013, $8.87m) and Paranormal Activity (2007, $8.63m), a list of previous big earners which seems to strongly indicate that the secret to box office success is “mildly diverting spookiness” rather than “soul-blasting terror”.
Directed by James Wan, The Conjuring 2 is once again based on the exploits of controversial demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), who this time head to North London for another round of ’70s-set otherworldliness. You can read our review here.
