People Keep Asking James Wan About Malignant 2, But Will He Make A Sequel? [Exclusive]
James Wan is one of our true modern horror masters. As the man who gave us the "Saw" and "Insidious" franchises, not to mention "The Conjuring" universe, there are few filmmakers working today who can claim they've done as much to further the genre since the turn of the century. One of the filmmaker's only horror films to not start a franchise, actually, remains 2021's "Malignant." But that's not to say a franchise is out of the question, as Wan won't rule out a reunion with Madison and Gabriel.
/Film's own Jacob Hall recently spoke with Wan in honor of the release of "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," which sees Wan putting on his blockbuster hat once again. During the conversation, he asked Wan what it would take to make "Malignant 2" happen. Here's what he had to say about it:
"It's funny how much 'Malignant 2' questions I get asked. I love that 'Malignant' came at a time when I just felt like I needed to visit my roots again. Go do something. I felt like between the 'Insidious' films and 'The Conjuring' films, and 'Aquaman' and all that. I felt like people were getting comfortable with me. I started to think that people were starting to know what kind movie I would be putting out as a director. So I really wanted to make a movie that was outside of the box."
Wan directed "Malignant" after the first "Aquaman" became a $1 billion breakout smash hit. It was a smaller film, and one that, as he put it, allowed him to go back to his roots. The film centers on Madison (Annabelle Wallis), who begins having visions of brutal murders and soon discovers that these dreams are linked to actual crimes. Things get indescribably bonkers along the way.
'It's only a matter of time'
Now, back to the question at hand. Wan didn't directly address whether or not he's had active discussions about a sequel with Warner Bros., or if he knows what he's going to do now that his big superhero film is in the rearview mirror. But he does feel that, inevitably, he's going to want to play outside the box again.
"It's only a matter of time before I feel like, 'You know what, I need to go outside of the box again.' I like to do that. [...] I like to kind of go back and forth between my big films and my small films. Now, in terms of 'Malignant 2,' I don't know. I actually don't have an answer for you there."
For what it's worth, Wallis previously suggested that "conversations" were happening regarding a potential sequel. But that was more than two years ago now. Not to be forgotten is the fact that "Malignant" did not perform well at the box office. Released in 2021, it made just $34 million against a reported $40 million budget. That said, the pandemic was a much larger factor at that time, and the film was also released directly to HBO Max (now just Max) the same day it hit theaters. So it's possible that Warner Bros. could look at the larger situation, as well as streaming numbers, and determine that a sequel would still make sense. But one imagines that if Wan wanted to make the movie badly enough, he would find a way to make it happen.
"Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" is set to hit theaters on December 22, 2023.