After more than two decades away from the big screen, Candyman is returning. However, rather than take a Halloween-like approach and have Tony Todd return to the horror role he first tackled in the early ‘90s, this latest installment has found someone new to terrorize audiences as this character: Aquaman star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
Having recently clashed with Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry as Black Manta, Yahweh Abdul-Mateen II is currently in talks to play the new Candyman, according to Variety. Rather than being a straightforward remake of the 1992 Candyman, this new movie, which is being directed by The Little Woods’ Nia DaCosta and produced by Jordan Peele through his Monkeypaw Productions company, has been described as a “spiritual sequel.” Even with that information, it’s unclear if Abdul-Mateen II, assuming he’s cast, is playing the same Candyman that Tony Todd previously brought to life or a brand-new iteration, but either way, when people say “Candyman” in front of a mirror fives times in this new movie, he’ll be what appears.
While moviegoers might currently know him best as Black Manta in Aquaman, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is no stranger to the horror genre or Jordan Peele, as he’ll appear next month in Us, Peele’s second directorial feature. Abdul-Mateen II’s other notable credits include playing Cadillac in the short-lived Netflix series The Get Down, as well as movies like Baywatch and The Greatest Showman. In addition to Us, Abdul-Mateen II will appear in the drama All Day and a Night later this year, and he’s also been cast in HBO’s Watchmen series in an undisclosed role.
For those unfamiliar with the first Candyman movie, it’s based off the short story “The Forbidden” by Clive Barker and followed a graduate student studying the Candyman legend. It’s revealed that the entity was previously an artist and son of a slave who was brutally murdered, and in his new supernatural form, he murders those who dare summon him or doubt his existence. Candyman was follows by two sequels: 1995’s Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh and 1999’s Candyman: Day of the Dead, the latter of which was a straight-to-video release.
No specific plot details for the new Candyman movie have been revealed yet, other than that it will be set in the same neighborhood that the original movie was set in: the now-gentrified section of Chicago that was previously home to the Cabrini-Green housing projects. Beyond that, it remains to be seen how closely, if at all, this latest Candyman tale will be tied to its predecessor, although the fact that it’s being labeled as a spiritual sequel suggests that the story won’t unfold too similarly to the original Candyman.
Candyman is currently scheduled to hit theaters on June 12, 2020, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. In the meantime, if you’re interested in what’s heading to the silver screen a little earlier, look through our 2019 release schedule.
