Annabelle 2 is set to come out later this year, and the good folks over at New Line Cinema are hoping to build on the following created by the first film, which was a spinoff from James Wan’s very successful horror film The Conjuring. The Annabelle doll was introduced in that film, and she sparked enough interest to get her own flick. The first Annabelle made $257 million when it came out in 2014, on a budget of only $6.5 million.

Annabelle 2 is being directed by David F. Sandberg, who directed last summer’s very well-received scary movie Lights Out. The film is set to star Stephanie Sigman (“Spectre”), Talitha Bateman (“The 5th Wave”), Lulu Wilson (upcoming “Ouija 2,” “Deliver Us from Evil”), Philippa Coulthard (“After the Dark”), Grace Fulton (“Badland”), Lou Lou Safran (“The Choice”), Samara Lee (“Foxcatcher,” “The Last Witch Hunter”), Tayler Buck in her feature film debut, with Anthony LaPaglia (TV’s “Without a Trace”) and Miranda Otto (Showtime’s “Homeland,” “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy).

That’s some decent talent for a horror sequel right there, which tells me this isn’t just some simple cash-in.

Here’s a new publicity image from Annabelle 2:

In “Annabelle 2,” several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, soon becoming the target of the dollmaker’s possessed creation, Annabelle.

A fun little bit of trivia I discovered after watching the first flick and thoroughly enjoying it was that the actual Annabelle doll that was investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren is a Raggedy Ann doll:

My wife and I are planning a trip to the Warren’s Occult Museum to see it for ourselves!

As for you, you can see Annabelle 2 when it comes out August 11.

SOURCE: New Line Cinema