Candyman Reboot Director Can’t Wait for Fans to See It

When the coronavirus pandemic began spreading earlier this year, a number of highly anticipated movies had their release dates delayed, and while fans are disappointed that they won’t be able to see Nia DaCosta‘s new Candyman in theaters next weekend as it was originally planned, the filmmaker took to Twitter to share how excited she is for fans to see it when it’s eventually unleashed in September. As things currently stand, some theaters are hoping to start opening in the coming weeks and be back to almost full capacity by mid-July, though it’s too early to tell if these hopes will be realized.

“Candyman would have come out next Friday,” the filmmaker tweeted while sharing a fan’s desire to see the film as soon as possible. “I can’t wait for you all to see it in September.”

In the 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 terrifying wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny.”

While audiences might not immediately recognize DaCosta’s name, due in part to her lack of genre projects at this point in her career, Get Out and Us director Jordan Peele serves as a producer on the film and shared earlier this year what made her a much better choice to tackle the project than him.

“Quite honestly, Nia is better to shoot this than I am,” Peele shared with Empire. “I’m way too obsessed with the original tales in my head. I probably wouldn’t be any good. But Nia has a steady manner about her which you don’t see a lot in the horror space. She’s refined, elegant, every shot is beautiful. It’s a beautiful, beautiful movie. I’m so glad I didn’t mess it up.”

Candyman lands in theaters on September 25th.

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!