SlashFilm reports Universal postponed Nia DaCosta’s slasher horror Candyman. Slated for a release on October 16, 2020, the film will instead premiere sometime next year. Initially, its release date was June 12, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the studio changed it several times: first to September 25 and then again to October 16. This last date was reserved for David Gordon Green’s Halloween Kills before Universal postponed that movie for a full year.
Written and directed by Bernard Rose based on Clive Barker’s short story The Forbidden, Candyman first came out in 1992. Four sequels followed, all of them featuring Tony Todd as the titular villain. In 2018, Jordan Peel, fresh off the success of his horror film Get Out, began developing the new Candyman sequel. DaCosta, who just made her directorial debut with Little Woods, was hired as director. Candyman’s cast includes Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen, Aquaman), Colman Domingo (If Bele Street Could Talk), Teyonah Parris (Mad Men), Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Misfits), and Vanessa Estelle Williams (the first and the fourth Candyman films).
A side-effect of this news is that US cinemas might be soon running out of major releases. With Wonder Woman 1984 and Candyman both postponed, there aren’t many big movies left. Death on the Nile arrives on October 23 and Marvel’s Black Widow on November 6. But will they even come out this year?
