Following the news that Paramount's A Quiet Place Part II is rescheduling its theatrical release for September due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Universal has now delayed the release of Nia DaCosta's Candyman to the fall.
According to multiple sources, including Exhibitor Relations and The Hollywood Reporter, the new Candyman is now scheduled to come out in theaters on September 25th, moving it back several months from its previous June 12th release date.
A reimagining of Bernard Rose's 1992 film of the same name (which is based on Clive Barker's short story "The Forbidden") irected by Nia DaCosta (Little Woods) and written by Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld, the new Candyman stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo, and Tony Todd (who also starred as the titular character in the previous three Candyman films).
Of course, we don't know with full certainty what stage the COVID-19 pandemic will be in September. Even if self-quarantining is a thing of the past for the lucky ones by then, we'll have to wait and see what types of social distancing rules are put into place for large gatherings at public events such as movie screenings.
We'll be sure to keep Daily Dead readers updated on the new Candyman as more details are revealed, and in case you missed it, check out highlights from the Candyman press event with DaCosta and Peele.
"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.
Universal Pictures presents, from Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures and Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld’s Monkeypaw Productions, in association with BRON Creative, Candyman. Candyman is directed by DaCosta, and is produced by Ian Cooper (Us), Rosenfeld and Peele. The screenplay is by Peele & Rosenfeld and DaCosta. The film is based on the 1992 film Candyman, written by Bernard Rose, and the short story “The Forbidden” by Clive Barker. The film’s executive producers are David Kern, Aaron L. Gilbert and Jason Cloth."