Candyman Reboot Star Says Film Is "Epic" and "Visually Stunning"

With the coronavirus pandemic causing a number of films to delay their release dates, some fans have expressed their interest in seeing these projects debut on streaming services, but star of the new Candyman reboot Colman Domingo recently detailed the film's cinematic accomplishments and how they're deserving of being seen on the big screen. The film was originally slated to hit theaters last June, only to be delayed to September, then to October, ultimately landing at its current release date of August 27th. While it's entirely possible the film could be delayed yet again, the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines could result in theaters resuming operations in the coming months.

"It does need to be on a big screen, I believe that," Domingo shared with Entertainment Tonight. "Nia DaCosta directed something that is really epic and it's really visually stunning. And I think you need to be in an audience and be shocked and at the same time. And laugh at the same time, and go 'oh' at the same time."

While it would make sense that some of the biggest blockbusters would aim to debut in theaters and avoid streaming services, it sounds as though the upcoming horror film reimagining will offer audiences much more than a handful of thrills. DaCosta teased as much when addressing the film's multiple delays last year.

"We made Candyman to be seen in theaters," DaCosta shared on Twitter. "Not just for the spectacle but because the film is about community and stories--how they shape each other, how they shape us. It's about the collective experience of trauma and joy, suffering and triumph, and the stories we tell around it. We wanted the horror and humanity of Candyman to be experienced in a collective, a community, so we're pushing Candyman to next year, to ensure that everyone can see the film, in theaters, and share in that experience."

In the new film, for as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago's Cabrini Green neighborhood were terrorized by a word-of-mouth ghost story about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand, easily summoned by those daring to repeat his name five times into a mirror. In present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; HBO's Watchmen, Us) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, The Photograph), move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials.

With Anthony's painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini Green old-timer (Colman Domingo; HBO's Euphoria, Assassination Nation) exposes Anthony to the tragically horrific nature of the true story behind Candyman. Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, unknowingly opening a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifyingly viral wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny.

Candyman is slated to hit theaters on August 27th.

Are you looking forward to the new film? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!