Is Matt Rife Already Cashing in on Being the Keeper of the Annabelle Doll?

Recently, Matt Rife, the brief-brand ambassador for E.L.F. Cosmetics, announced that he and Elton Castee purchased the Warren home and the collection of supernatural items that it houses. This includes a number of paranormal items that have been part of alleged hauntings and possessions. But no item is more famous than the Annabelle doll, which has risen to mythic levels of fame and has multiple Hollywood films dedicated to it. 

The latest is The Conjuring: Last Rites, the final film in the Conjuring franchise. As is custom with major film releases now, the movie is getting a custom popcorn bucket for its theatrical debut. The popcorn bucket will be available at Cinemark and costs a whopping $44.99.

That’s a pricey souvenir, especially for a recreation of a doll that’s tied to numerous suspicious deaths and other freaky stuff. It also made me wonder: Is Rife going to profit from the use of Annabelle’s likeness? What are the intellectual property laws around haunted doll ownership? Are you just in charge of the care and keeping of the doll, or is this something that Rife could sue over? Is this really his doll in any way, or does the doll belong to the spirit world and concepts like mortal ownership and licensing simply not apply? 

At the time of his purchase, Rife shared more about his motivations for securing the doll. “This might be the most important and prominent piece of paranormal history in the world,” Rife explained on TikTok. “Ed and Lorraine Warren are who took demonology and ghost hunting and paranormal investing and made it mainstream. I know a lot of you guys don’t know what any of this means whatsoever, but if you follow ghost stuff, this is about as big as it gets.”

As the legal guardian of the doll, there’s a small chance that Rife could be entitled to some of the profit from these Annabelle popcorn buckets. But if I were him, I wouldn’t try to monetize the ownership of Annabelle anymore. Cinemark already has people pulling popcorn out of the doll’s ass, and that’s some curse-worthy decision-making if I’ve ever heard it. 

But imagine that he does try to get some of the money from that doll popcorn bucket; I envision it quickly turning into a Monkey Paw scenario. And with Rife already dealing with the fallout of one major brand campaign, he doesn’t need any more bad luck.