Mendelson: When you were first developing the project, were you intentionally developing a horror film because you liked horror, or because it was a genre that has a long history with being able to tackle social and topical elements, in the trappings of a popcorn entertainment.

Peele: It was [both]. I've been a horror fan for so long. I've done so much comedy over the last 15 years, but you could recognize a lot of similarities between the genres. So much of it is pacing, so much of it reveals. So much of it is the ability to pinpoint what an audience is going through at that very moment.

A big part of it is I've been wanting to do horror for a long time, and luckily I've kind of gotten something of a training through comedy. I definitely felt confident in the fact that it's a genre that all you need to work is the story and the scariness and the emotion. If you can get that you can make a decent movie in the genre.

Aquaman actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is in talks to lead the new Candyman.

The spiritual sequel from MGM is being produced by Jordan Peele and his Monkeypaw Productions banner, along with Win Rosenfeld. Nia DaCosta (Little Woods) is on board to direct.

The movie will be a contemporary follow-up to the 1992 horror film, an adaptation of the Clive Barker story The Forbidden that told of the legend of the Candyman, a murdered son of a slave who is now a supernatural killer, and his unique relationship with a white grad student working on a thesis on urban legends, all set against the backdrop of a Chicago housing project.

The new story is set in the Cabrini-Green housing projects, which have now been gentrified.

Candyman is set for a June 12, 2020, release.

Abdul-Mateen, whose credits include The Get Down and Baywatch, will next be seen in Peele's horror thriller Us. He is repped by Gersh, Anonymous Content and Bloom Hergott.

It’s hard to know what exactly is going on with director Nia DaCosta‘s Candyman, which has been described as a “spiritual sequel” to the original film. It had initially been reported that Aquaman actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II had been cast to play the new Candyman, and though he has indeed been cast in the movie, DaCosta recently clarified that report.

“Well, it’s been slightly misreported,” DaCosta told Collider. “I can’t say what’s happening in the film because we want it to be a surprise, but he’s not replacing Tony Todd. That’s been reported, and I was just like, “I don’t know what to say about this. This is not right.’”

DaCosta’s tease of a surprise here seems to suggest that maybe Tony Todd will make some kind of appearance in the new movie, and what we do know for sure is that Todd and producer Jordan Peele have now had some kind of conversation about the project. Speaking with Forbes as part of an interview piece you should read, Todd teases that fans will be pleased.

“In Jordan Peele’s case I really like what I’ve seen of his work so far. I have full confidence in that remake being in competent hands and he and I have talked,” the horror icon told the website. “I can’t say anything further than that, but I think the fans are going to be happy.”

This is of course pure speculation on our part, but it definitely seems like the door has been left open for Todd to make some kind of return here. How awesome would that be?!

If Beale Street Could Talk actress Teyonah Parris will reportedly play the girlfriend of an art dealer obsessed with the legend of Candyman in the Jordan Peele-produced film.

The new movie returns to the neighborhood where the legend began: the now-gentrified section of Chicago where the Cabrini-Green housing projects once stood.

Jordan Peele wrote the script with Win Rosenfeld.

MGM will bring Candyman back to life on June 12, 2020.

Principal photography kicked off a little over a month ago here in Chicago on the next Candyman, the Jordan Peele-produced sequel to the Clive Barker adaptation that’s directed by Nia DaCosta (Little Woods).

While Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Us, Aquaman) leads the cast, horror fans have been on pins and needles waiting for an announcement in regards to the title character.

I had been hearing for weeks, from several sources, that Tony Todd will be returning to the role that he first portrayed in the 1992 film of the same name. All of my sources are solid, but none of them were fully confident, which led me on a wild goose chase for confirmation. Just a few minutes ago, I had given up and decided to run the scoop on Twitter. Within minutes, two more trustworthy sources came forward telling me that what I had been hearing was, in fact, true.

While I’d still like to tread carefully and wait for MGM to officially announce the news in order to pop the champagne and celebrate, it’s looking like Tony Todd will be returning as the hook-handed Candyman next summer.

Peele (Get Out, Us) co-wrote the script, which is described as a “spiritual sequel” to the original classic. The sequel returns to the neighborhood where the legend began: the now-gentrified section of Chicago where the Cabrini-Green housing projects once stood.

Watch this spot for all official news as it arrives. We’ll all be Candyman’s victim come June 12, 2020.

In Candyman, an adaptation of Clive Barker‘s story that was directed by Bernard Rose, Virginia Madsen plays Helen Lyle, a Chicago grad student who becomes obsessed with a Cabrini Green-set urban legend about a spirit who appears when his name is said into a mirror five times. With a hook in the place of one of his hands, Candyman torments Helen, who eventually dies in a fire and becomes her own urban myth.

The new Candyman, directed by Nia DaCosta, allegedly takes place after the events in the 1992 classic. While Tony Todd‘s Candyman does seemingly play a role, we’re told that one of the main catalysts is Helen Lyle. Yup, that Helen Lyle.

While we’re unsure if Madsen makes any kind of appearance, Bloody Disgusting was able to confirm that Cassie Kramer has taken over the role of Helen Lyle and will star in the spiritual sequel set for release on June 12, 2020.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Us, Aquaman) leads the cast, and Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) co-wrote the script, which is described as a “spiritual sequel” to the original classic. The sequel returns to the neighborhood where the legend began: the now-gentrified section of Chicago where the Cabrini-Green housing projects once stood.

Don’t say his name.

This summer, Oscar® winner Jordan Peele unleashes a fresh take on the blood-chilling urban legend that your friend’s older sibling probably told you about at a sleepover: Candyman. Rising filmmaker Nia DaCosta (Little Woods) directs this contemporary incarnation of the cult classic.

For as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighborhood were terrorized by a word-of-mouth ghost story about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand, easily summoned by those daring to repeat his name five times into a mirror. In present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; HBO’s Watchmen, Us) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, The Photograph), move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials.

With Anthony’s painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini Green old-timer (Colman Domingo; HBO’s Euphoria, Assassination Nation) exposes Anthony to the tragically horrific nature of the true story behind Candyman. Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, unknowingly opening a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifyingly viral wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny.

Universal Pictures presents, from Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures and Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld’s Monkeypaw Productions, in association with BRON Creative, Candyman. Candyman is directed by DaCosta, and is produced by Ian Cooper (Us), Rosenfeld and Peele. The screenplay is by Peele & Rosenfeld and DaCosta. The film is based on the 1992 film Candyman, written by Bernard Rose, and the short story “The Forbidden” by Clive Barker. The film’s executive producers are David Kern, Aaron L. Gilbert and Jason Cloth.

In Theaters June 12

Candyman is here. The first trailer for the sequel to the 1992 horror classic premiered on Thursday afternoon, and at a press event the day before, director Nia DaCosta promised that the full film would have plenty of gore.

“I really love gore,” DaCosta said, explaining that she and Get Out director Jordan Peele, who co-wrote and produced Candyman, have different horror aesthetics. “Jordan’s really brilliant at not showing everything, and my instinct is to do the exact opposite. But there’s... a good amount of things you don’t want to see, that I make you look at."

Candyman, which will appear in theaters this summer, stars Watchmen’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as an artist investigating the Candyman legend, only to find himself drawn into something horrible. At the press event on Wednesday, Peele explained his reverence for the original movie.

“It was one of the few movies that explored any aspect of the black experience in the horror genre in the ‘90s,” Peele said.

The 1992 Candyman was set in Chicago’s Cabrini–Green Homes, a public housing project with a bad reputation. Now, in 2020, almost all of Cabrini–Green has been torn down and replaced with upscale high-rises. Nia DaCosta, who directs the new movie, told the press that “Gentrification in our film is what helped us to reimagine the story.”

“The movie in the ‘90s has a vision of Cabrini–Green where it’s sort of on its way to being knocked down… Like, there’s an ArcLight really close to where Cabrini–Green used to be” DaCosta said. “What we do in our film is talk about the ghosts that have been left behind because of gentrification, and in particular, Cabrini–Green.”

It’s still not exactly clear what sort of role Tony Todd, who played the titular Candyman in the original movies, will have in the new film, and it’s hard to make out if he’s in the trailer. There was originally a bit of a controversy where Todd said he was “hurt” that he wasn’t part of the new film, but he’s since been brought into the fold in some capacity. DaCosta was coy when asked if Todd appears in her film.

“Well well well… I really love Tony Todd, he’s iconic,” she said. “And I will say what we’ve done with this film is… is great. And Tony’s great. Jordan’s great. I don’t want to give anything away.”

Candyman hits theaters on June 12, 2020.