Following the surprise crossover mainstream success of James Wan's spooky The Conjuring, studio New Line were quick to announce both a sequel and a spin-off. The latter, Annabelle, has already arrived, but The Conjuring 2 isn't moving forward as swiftly. It's just been pulled from its previously announced release date of October 23 next year{
Not too much is known about The Conjuring 2 so far, aside from the return of stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as paranormal investigators Ed and Elaine Warren, and that Chad and Carey Hayes are once again writing the screenplay. Rather than returning to the first film's story in some way, the sequel will simply present the Warrens with a different case. The IMDb currently gives it the subtitle The Enfield Poltergeist, suggesting a 1977 setting in the English village of Brimsdown...
The reason for the delay is unclear, although there's some suggestion that the studio are waiting for Wan to become available to re-take the director's chair. Wan had previously said that he was leaving horror alone for a while, and has recently been wrangling Fast & Furious 7. But perhaps a sweet deal has been brokered?
As for the unnamed horror that will replace The Conjuring 2 on October 23, there's really no clue so far. Again going purely by the IMDb, New Line's current development slate includes Tarsem Singh's A Killing On Carnival Row, killer bedbug flick Dead Asleep, Cary Fukunaga's new version of Stephen King's It, Darwin Brooks' gothic Western Six Gun Dead, and an English-language remake of The Orphange.
Whether that information remains accurate and whether any of those projects is close to a green light is anyone's guess. We could just as easily be talking about something else completely...