If you combine the career global box office totals of movies made by George Miller, Baz Luhrmann and Peter Weir it falls short of Wan's haul.

The 42-year-old director-writer-producer with Hollywood's Midas touch is not complaining.

He's pretty happy with his life.

Wan's secret to remaining hot for 15 years in an industry where filmmakers often turn deadly cold after a hit is simple.

"I just continue to make the movies I want to watch," Wan told AAP in an interview in Los Angeles last week.

"That's the bottom line.

"That's the key.

"I'm very fortunate I have pretty common taste, I guess, that people out there share."

Locals might not recognise him when he returns from his home in LA to Australia, but they have likely paid to sit in a theatre to watch his films.

Remember last year's Aquaman movie shot on Queensland's Gold Coast?

Wan directed it and it made $US1.15 billion at the global box office.

How about 2015's Furious 7, the revhead action film that was almost shutdown with the tragic mid-production death of its star Paul Walker?

Wan's deft direction helped turn the film into the most successful chapter of the eight-film franchise with $US1.5 billion worldwide.

In 2003 Wan was broke, but with his filmmaking buddy and fellow Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology film student Leigh Whannell, had an idea to make an ultra-violent horror film.

They could not afford to make a feature but agreed, with their manager Stacey Testro, to shoot a single eight-minute scene and then fly to LA and show it to Hollywood producers.

It was snapped up and the scene became the feature, Saw.

Saw cost just $US1 million to make in LA and after its 2004 release made $US103 million worldwide.

It led to seven Saw sequels generating more than $US1.2 billion.

Then came Wan's Insidious and The Conjuring film franchises.

The two Conjuring movies, based on cases by real life paranormal investigators Lorraine and Edward Warren (played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson), made a combined $US640 million and also generated a spin-off Annabelle franchise about a possessed doll.

The third Annabelle film, Annabelle Comes Home, is Wan's next release.

It has a sweet title, kind of like a Lassie movie, but is definitely not suitable for kids.

Annabelle was an actual doll the Warrens kept in their home.

"The Warrens are real people and they literally have a haunted artifact room in their house and poor Judy, their daughter, grew up with all of these haunted artifacts in her house," Wan says.

Wan's blockbusters should keep coming and the Australian film industry will benefit, with Wan producing a Mortal Kombat movie reboot.

It will be shot in Adelaide.

If you live in Adelaide and you don't recognise Wan, he's OK with that.

"Not really," Wan, when asked if he gets recognised in Australia, laughs.

"It depends.

"If I'm in a bigger city like Melbourne, then yes, but when I go back to see my family in Perth no-one recognises me.

"It's nice."

Annabelle Comes Home opens in Australia on Thursday (June 27).

Australian Associated Press