CANDYMAN: Nia DaCosta's Upcoming Horror Sequel Finally Gets A New 2021 Release Date

Universal Pictures has finally set a new release date for Nia DaCosta's Candyman, which will now open on August 27, 2021.  

The upcoming horror sequel was originally scheduled to release in June, but due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, moved to September and then to October before the studio was ultimately forced to vacate 2020 entirely. 

While the release calendar will remain fluid until the United States can get a grip on the pandemic, Candyman shouldn't face much competition upon release. The only films currently set to open around the same time are Lionsgate's The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (August 20) and Paramount's Jackass 4 (September 3).

Nia DaCosta (Little Woods; Top Boy) directed, utilizing a screenplay co-written by Jordan Peele (Get Out; Us), Win Rosenfeld (The Twilight Zone), and herself.

The film stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen; Aquaman), Teyonah Parris (WandaVision; Empire), Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Dracula; The Kid Who Would Be King) and Colman Domingo (Fear the Walking Dead; Selma) in the main roles. While unconfirmed, original franchise star Tony Todd (The Flash; Final Destination) is also expected to appear in his iconic role as Daniel Robitaille, a.k.a. the Candyman.  

Don’t say his name.

This summer, Oscar® winner Jordan Peele unleashes a fresh take on the blood-chilling urban legend that your friend’s older sibling probably told you about at a sleepover: Candyman. Rising filmmaker Nia DaCosta (Little Woods) directs this contemporary incarnation of the cult classic.

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.

From Universal Pictures and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures, in association with BRON Creative, and Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld’s Monkeypaw Productions, 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.