Nia DaCosta to direct Jordan Peele’s retelling of Clive Barker’s Candyman

Just say his name five times while starring into a mirror, and Candyman will appear. In September there was buzz that Jordan Peele was beginning to develop a reboot of CANDYMAN which he would produce through his Monkeypaw Productions banner, and now it's been reported that Nia DaCosta (LITTLE WOODS) has signed on to helm the film.

Rather than being a straight up remake, this new project is being called a "spiritual sequel" to the original CANDYMAN film as it will be returning to the neighbourhood where the legend began: the now-gentrified section of Chicago where the Cabrini-Green housing projects once stood. "The original was a landmark film for black representation in the horror genre. Alongside ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ ‘Candyman’ was a major inspiration for me as a filmmaker — and to have a bold new talent like Nia at the helm of this project is truly exciting," said Jordan Peele in a statement. "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." Production on the film is expected to begin next spring and CANDYMAN has already been given a June 12, 2020 release. Deadline later added that the script will be penned by Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld. In a further statement, MGM Motion Picture Group president Jonathan Glickman added:

We cannot wait for the world to see what the mind-blowing combination of Jordan, Win, and Nia bring to the legend of Candyman. They have created a story that will not only pay reverence to Clive Barker’s haunting and brilliant source material, but is also thoroughly modern and will bring in a whole new generation of fans.

It's been some time since I last watched the original CANDYMAN, but I still remember it standing out among the crop of early '90s slashers. Here's hoping that Tony Todd, who played Candyman the original and the two sequels, will have a part to play in the retelling. The actor already gave his blessing to the project while speaking with Nightmare on Film Street in September, saying, "If Jordan wants to do it, do it. I know I’d rather have him do it, someone with intelligence, who’s going to be thoughtful and dig into the whole racial makeup of who Candyman is and why he existed in the first place. I know he’ll give homage and I know that if it gets made, I’ll have a plate at the table one way or the other."