If you were hoping to see what happens when dumb people say “Candyman” in front of a mirror a bunch of times this Halloween, you’re going to have to wait a little longer or say it on your own to see what happens. Universal and MGM have pushed back the “Candyman” remake to some unspecified time in 2021.
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The news comes just as “Tenet” is performing relatively below expectations with many multiplexes still closed across the U.S., and following the news that Warner Bros. is pushing “Wonder Woman 1984” to December 25. Director Nia DaCosta took to Twitter this morning to comment on the changed release date news.
“We made ‘CANDYMAN’ to be seen in theaters,” DaCosta said. “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,” the director added.
Though it is disappointing that we won’t get any big horror theatrical releases this year, “Candyman” is promising to be the kind of true communal experience that can only be done in theaters. It doesn’t hurt that the film is co-written and produced by Jordan Peele, whose “Get Out” became an instant cultural phenomenon, so it’s a good sign that Universal remains committed to the theatrical experience.
Universal already moved their other big horror film, “Halloween Kills” to October 2021, so if nothing else we’re at least scheduled to get a killer horror year.