MGM has announced they’ve partnered with Monkeypaw Productions’ Jordan Peele (Get Out) and Win Rosenfeld to produce a re-imagining of Candyman, the 1992 horror classic adapted from Clive Barker’s short story The Forbidden.
Rising filmmaker Nia DaCosta (Little Woods) will direct from a screenplay by Peele and Rosenfeld. The film, a “spiritual sequel” to the original, returns to the neighborhood where the legend began: the now-gentrified section of Chicago where the Cabrini-Green housing projects once stood.
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“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,” said Jonathan Glickman, MGM’s President of Motion Picture Group.
“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. 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,” added Peele.
MGM will produce and finance Candyman with Universal handling domestic theatrical distribution. Adam Rosenberg, MGM’s Co-President of Production and Tabitha Shick, MGM’s Vice President of Production will oversee the project on behalf of the studio and Ian Cooper will produce for Monkeypaw.
Production is expected to begin Spring 2019. Universal Pictures will release Candyman theatrically in the U.S. on June 12, 2020.
