Movies
Nia DaCosta’s ‘Candyman’ Confirmed and Set for 2020 Release!
This past September, Bloody Disgusting exclusively broke the news that Jordan Peele‘s Monkeypaw Productions would be producing a remake to the Bernard Rose-directed Candyman, a chilling urban horror film adapted from Clive Barker‘s “Books of Blood” short story “The Forbidden”. This has been confirmed this afternoon with news that it is being billed as a “spiritual sequel” that returns to the neighborhood where the legend began: the now-gentrified section of Chicago where the Cabrini-Green housing projects once stood.
“Urban” had a dual meaning in that the original adaptation was moved from England to the now demolished Cabrini–Green public housing development in Chicago, while the antagonist is an urban legend in himself, the Candyman (played by Tony Todd), an artist and son of a slave who had his hand severed and was then murdered (with bees, of course) by his lover’s father. Released in 1992, the film spawned two sequels, the latter being direct-to-video.
While lesser known among the horror icons, Candyman is easily one of the scariest; he can be summoned by saying his name five times while facing a mirror. No word on if Todd will reprise his role.
Nia DaCosta (Little Woods) will be directing from a screenplay by Peele and Win Rosenfeld, adds Deadline.
“The original was a landmark film for black representation in the horror genre,” said Peele in the press release. “Alongside Night of the Living Dead, Candyman was a major inspiration for me as filmmaker — and to have a bold new talent like Nia at the helm of this project is truly exciting. We are honored to bring the next chapter in the Candyman canon to life and eager to provide new audiences with an entry point to Clive Barker’s legend.”
MGM will release this new film on June 12, 2020.
Movies
‘Abigail’ on Track for a Better Opening Weekend Than Universal’s Previous Two Vampire Attempts
In the wake of Leigh Whannell’s Invisible Man back in 2020, Universal has been struggling to achieve further box office success with their Universal Monsters brand. Even in the early days of the pandemic, Invisible Man scared up $144 million at the worldwide box office, while last year’s Universal Monsters: Dracula movies The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Renfield didn’t even approach that number when you COMBINE their individual box office hauls.
The horror-comedy Renfield came along first in April 2023, ending its run with just $26 million. The period piece Last Voyage of the Demeter ended its own run with a mere $21 million.
But Universal is trying again with their ballerina vampire movie Abigail this weekend, the latest bloodbath directed by the filmmakers known as Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream).
Unlike Demeter and Renfield, the early reviews for Abigail are incredibly strong, with our own Meagan Navarro calling the film “savagely inventive in terms of its vampiric gore,” ultimately “offering a thrill ride with sharp, pointy teeth.” Read her full review here.
That early buzz – coupled with some excellent trailers – should drive Abigail to moderate box office success, the film already scaring up $1 million in Thursday previews last night. Variety notes that Abigail is currently on track to enjoy a $12 million – $15 million opening weekend, which would smash Renfield ($8 million) and Demeter’s ($6 million) opening weekends.
Working to Abigail‘s advantage is the film’s reported $28 million production budget, making it a more affordable box office bet for Universal than the two aforementioned movies.
Stay tuned for more box office reporting in the coming days.
In Abigail, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
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