Candyman (2021 film)
Candyman is a 2021 supernatural slasher film directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, and DaCosta. The film is a direct sequel to the 1992 film of the same name and the fourth film in the "Candyman" film series, based on the short story "The Forbidden" by Clive Barker. The film stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo, and Kyle Kaminsky. Vanessa Williams, Virginia Madsen, and Tony Todd also reprise their roles from the original film. Plans for another "Candyman" film began in the early 2000s, with original  director Bernard Rose wanting to make a prequel film about Candyman and Helen's love. However, the studio turned it down and the project entered development hell. By 2018, Peele signed on as producer for a new film using his company, Monkeypaw Productions and later, in November that same year, it was confirmed that Peele would produce the film with Universal Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and partnered with Rosenfeld to co-produce the film while DaCosta signed on as director. Principal photography for the film began in August 2019 and wrapped in September 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. "Candyman" was  theatrically released in the United States on August 27, 2021, by Universal Pictures. Its release date was delayed three times from an original June 2020 date due to concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised DaCosta's direction, visual style, and the blend of social commentary with horror. It has grossed $77 million worldwide against a $25 million budget. Plot. In 1977, at the Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago, the police search for Sherman Fields, a homeless man with a hook for a hand known for giving candies to  local children. He was suspected of putting a razor blade in a piece of candy that ended up in the hands of a white girl around Halloween. Later on, a young boy is approached by Fields while doing the laundry in an apartment building. Scared by his presence, the kid screams, causing the police to come down and beat Fields to death. Two weeks later, Sherman is posthumously declared innocent after more reports of razor blades in candy. Over 42 years later, in 2019, visual artist Anthony McCoy lives in Chicago with his girlfriend, art gallery director Brianna Cartwright. Looking  for a creative spark, Anthony goes to Cabrini–Green projects after hearing the legend of Helen Lyle from the original movie by Brianna's brother, Troy. Troy tells a misconstrued version of the events, claiming Helen kidnapped a baby and went on a killing spree before immolating herself. Anthony meets laundromat owner William Burke, who introduces him to the story of the Candyman, and reveals he was the young boy who witnessed Sherman Fields being beaten to death by the policemen. Burke implies that if somebody says "Candyman" five times to a mirror, Sherman's spirit will appear and kill  the summoner. Inspired by what Burke has told him, Anthony makes an elaborate art piece based on the Candyman legend titled “Say My Name” to display at Brianna's and her co-worker Clive Privler's art exhibit. However, the piece is mostly ignored by the public and disparaged by art critic Finley Stephens, enraging Anthony who drunkenly storms off from the exhibit. Later that night, Clive and his girlfriend Jerrica are brutally murdered by the Candyman, who was summoned by the latter, all the while Anthony starts compulsively painting gruesome portraits of unknown people. Anthony becomes more obsessed with  the Candyman, much to Brianna's chagrin who is reminded of her own father, an obsessive artist who committed suicide when she was a child. After Anthony has two encounters with Sherman's ghost while investigating Helen Lyle's Candyman research, and learns that Finley was murdered after summoning the Candyman at Anthony's behest when he visited her, he confronts Burke and learns that the legend originated in the 1890s with Daniel Robitaille, an artist who was mutilated and lynched for having an interracial affair with his client's daughter, and since then, the legend has been renewed for  generations with the souls of other murdered black men, becoming part of the Candyman "hive", and who are also the subjects of Anthony's paintings. As the legend continues spreading, a group of teenage school girls at a local high school summon the Candyman in the bathroom and are subsequently killed. Anthony begins to undergo a physical transformation, stemming from a bee sting he received on his hand before meeting Burke, which starts spreading across his entire body. He goes to a hospital where he learns that his mother Anne-Marie lied about where he was born and when he  confronts her, she reluctantly reveals that he was the baby rescued from the bonfire the night Helen died and that Candyman had been responsible for the spree she was blamed for, and had planned to sacrifice him as well. The community had vowed never to repeat the Candyman's legend after that night. Anthony leaves resigned to his fate and wanders through the Cabrini-Green row houses. Worried about Anthony, Brianna goes to Burke's laundromat at Cabrini-Green, where she is kidnapped by him and takes her to an abandoned church where Anthony is in a fugue state. Burke  reveals that he not only witnessed Sherman's death, but also his spirit return as the Candyman, who killed his older sister and her friend after being summoned. Burke plans to have the police gun Anthony down to reclaim the Candyman legend as an instrument of vengeance rather than a symbol of suffering. He then saws off Anthony's hand and replaces it with a hook to complete his transformation, before chasing Brianna into the rowhouses where she kills him with a pen, Anthony appears and collapses in her arms, as police arrive, they shoot Anthony dead. As the police  detains and attempts to intimidate Brianna into agreeing that Anthony provoked them, she summons Candyman through a rear-view mirror, who appears in Anthony's guise, and massacres the police. Anthony is shown in a gated alley killing the last-surviving corrupt cop and approaches Brianna with a mass of bees swarming his upper torso. His face transforms to that of Daniel Robitaille, revealed to have been taking the forms of Sherman and Anthony due to their tragic deaths, and gives one simple instruction for Brianna to "Tell everyone" about what she had just witnessed. The film’s end credits  include a shadow puppet animated montage of various members of the Candyman Hive; such as Daniel, Sherman, Anthony Crawford, James Byrd Jr., George Stinney and lastly Anthony himself. Production. Development. In response to the success of "Freddy vs. Jason", a crossover film with "Leprechaun", titled "Candyman vs. Leprechaun", entered development. Tony Todd rejected the idea after being presented the script, saying "I will never be involved in something like that." In 2004, Todd confirmed to "Fangoria" that a fourth film was moving forward with Clive Barker's involvement and a $25 million budget. By 2009, Deon Taylor was attached  to direct the film, which would have been set in New England during the winter at an all-women's college, and would ignore the events of "". The film eventually fell apart due to disputes amongst the rights owners. In September 2018, it was announced that Jordan Peele was in talks to produce a sequel of the 1992 film through his Monkeypaw Productions. In a 2018 interview with "Nightmare on Film Street", Todd stated, "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 the  Candyman is and why he existed in the first place." In November 2018, it was confirmed that Peele and Win Rosenfeld would produce the film with Universal and MGM, while Nia DaCosta signed on as director. The film would be a sequel to the original, taking place back in the new gentrified Cabrini-Green where the old housing projects development once stood in Chicago. MGM's Jonathan Glickman stated that "the story will not only pay reverence to Clive Barker's haunting and brilliant source material" but "will bring in a new generation of fans." The filming was due to  commence in early 2019. Pre-production. In January 2019, it was reported that Lakeith Stanfield was being eyed to star in the film as Anthony McCoy, a character who was portrayed as a baby in the original film by Lanesha Martin. At the time, there was no word as to whether Todd or any of past cast would reprise their roles. However, in an interview with "Entertainment Weekly", Todd spoke about Peele, stating: "I know that he's a fan. I'm hoping that I will appear in the film in some form of fashion. Wouldn't that make sense ? But, it's Hollywood so I won't take it personally if it doesn't work out." He added, "If this new one is successful, it will shed light back on the original. I think that the subject matter is more important than any individuals and I mean that." In February 2019, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was in talks to play McCoy, misreported as being in talks to portray the titular character. In response to the news, Todd offered his blessings over Twitter, stating: "Cheers to the Candyman, a wonderful character that I lived with for 25 years. He's  brought grace and glory and a beautiful boatload of friends & family. I'm honored that the spirit of Daniel Robitaille & Cabrini-Green rises again. Truth to power! Blessings to the cast & crew". However, it was ultimately announced that Todd would reprise his role and that Abdul-Mateen II would instead be portraying Anthony McCoy. In March, Teyonah Parris was cast as Brianna Cartwright. Filming. Principal photography for "Candyman" took place between August and September 2019 in the Chicago area under the working title "Say My Name". Some filming took place in the North Park neighborhood during the month of September . Director DaCosta said the Near North Side's Marina City apartment buildings/condos were her favorite filming location in the city. Several scenes were filmed in the last standing remains of Cabrini–Green Homes' fenced-off row houses from 1942. "Candyman" is the first feature film to shoot on location inside the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Like the originally-planned 2004 film, the project had a $25 million production budget. The film features puppetry animation sequences which were created by Chicago-based puppet theater company Manual Cinema. DaCosta said she and Jordan Peele chose shadow puppets after speaking  early on about how much we would hate to do a traditional flashback scene (laughs) or to use footage from the original film, 'cause we wanted this to stand on its own. He mentioned shadow puppetry, and then in Chicago we developed [something] with this amazing theatre production company and from there it became less about flashbacks and more about how we depict these stories, these legends. Music. On March 3, 2020, Robert A. A. Lowe was announced as the composer for the film. In January 2022, "Variety" reported that Candyman's film score, which was composed by Robert A.A.  Lowe, surprisingly made the inclusion to compete in the shortlist running of a potential official nomination for the upcoming 2022 Academy Awards in the category of Best Original Score. Release. "Candyman" was originally scheduled to be released on June 12, 2020, by Universal Pictures, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was pushed to September 25, 2020, and then again to October 16, 2020, taking the previous release date of "Halloween Kills". The film was then delayed to August 27, 2021. The film was then released on-demand on September 17, 2021. "Candyman" was released for purchase on digital video  on demand with new exclusive early access to bonus material featurette clips including an alternate ending, extended scenes and behind the scenes interviews on streaming platforms such as Vudu, Apple TV, among others on November 2, 2021, and was released on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD digital code release including all bonus material and special features on November 16, 2021. Marketing. Summarizing the film's marketing results, RelishMix wrote that viewers were debating whether it was a remake or a sequel and that "with Jordan Peele on board, fan expectations run high in anticipation of the return of  this classic horror villain, who's described as a 'Black Freddy or Black Jason', as the film explores racial issues. Plus, fans are looking at the journey into the fine art world, woven into artists' creations, as they are influenced by demons and ghosts." By August 2021, the film's promotional content was viewed 144.1 million times, 40 percent higher than the average horror film; the first and second trailers accumulated 75 and 60 million views, respectively. Additional marketing tactics about the film's premise included a Snapchat filter, a stunt activation in Chicago, and Peele daring viewers to tweet  <nowiki>#Candyman</nowiki> five times, resulting in the film trending online. Reception. Box office. , "Candyman" has grossed $61.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $16.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $77.4 million. In the United States and Canada, "Candyman" was projected to gross around $15 million from 3,569 theaters in its opening weekend. The film took in $9.1 million on its first day, including $1.9 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $22 million, topping the box office; the audience was made up  of 53% male, with African Americans (37%) and Caucasians (30%) making up a majority. The top markets in the U.S. were Los Angeles ($1.3 million) and New York ($1.1 million). DaCosta also became the first Black female director to have a film finish number one at the box office. The film dropped 53.2% in its sophomore weekend to $10.3 million (and a total of $12.5 million over the four-day Labor Day frame), finishing second behind newcomer "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings". In its third weekend the film grossed $4.8 million , finishing fourth. Worldwide, "Candyman" was released in 51 markets and made $5.23 million; the top countries were the United Kingdom ($1.48 million), Spain ($356,000), Mexico, Russia, and Germany. Critical response. The website's critics consensus reads: ""Candyman" takes an incisive, visually thrilling approach to deepening the franchise's mythology—and terrifying audiences along the way." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100 based on 54 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak  reported 72% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 56% saying they would definitely recommend it. Reviewing the film for "The New York Times", Manohla Dargis wrote that "DaCosta plays with perspective, shifting between Anthony's and the intersecting, sometimes colliding worlds of more-successful artists, urban-legend propagators and, touchingly, profoundly scarred children." She points to the interspersed bits of shadow puppetry as a reflexive writing device that emphasizes "Candyman" is fundamentally about storytelling, writing: "We tell some fictions to understand ourselves, to exist; others we tell to turn other human beings into monsters, to destroy." Odie  Henderson, reviewing the film for "RogerEbert.com", praised DaCosta's visual style, writing that she "stages the kill scenes with a mix of pitch-black humor, misdirection, and clever framing, fully acknowledging that what you don't see—or think you saw—can be a lot worse than what you did see." In her review of "Candyman" for The A.V. Club, Anya Stanley wrote that the film's various interests are "more than a 91-minute movie can adequately explore," but conceded "there are worse crimes for a movie to commit than having too many ideas." She explained: "Where Bernard Rose  spoke on White anxieties and the image of the scary Black man in 1992, DaCosta expands the conversation, relocating the horror from one man to the many structures that foment brutality upon the Black populace." In her review for "Vulture", Angelica Jade Bastién called "Candyman" "the most disappointing film of the year so far," writing that it limns "not only the artistic failures of the individuals who ushered it to life, but the artistic failures of an entire industry that seeks to commodify Blackness to embolden its bottom line." Robert Daniels expressed similar disappointment with the film in his review  for "Polygon", describing it as "cluttered, preachy, and not nearly scary enough." He took particular issue with the way the film fails to convey the geographical importance of Cabrini-Green, writing that the "lack of a visual metaphor makes the film's exploration of gentrification more of an assemblage of nonspecific dialogue. It talks about what gentrification is, and not what it looks like." David Rooney of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote: "Director Nia DaCosta, working from a script she wrote with Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld, uses Bernard Rose's 1992 film as a jumping-off point for bone-chilling  horror that expands provocatively on the urban legend of the first film within the context of Black folklore and history, as well as the distorting White narrative that turns Black victims into monsters." Reviewing the film for "TheWrap", Elizabeth Weitzman said: "DaCosta, Peele, and Rosenfeld are playing with us—the victim is rendered less sympathetically than Candyman—as much as they are with notions of history, culture, art and appropriation. They bring in actors from the first film (including Tony Todd and Vanessa Estelle Williams) but not always in ways we expect. They build on canon while simultaneously dismantling it ." Aedan Juvet of "Screen Rant" also named the film: "The Most Rewatchable Horror Film of 2021" In March 2022, Nia DaCosta won as best director at the "PETA Oscat Awards" for using CGI bees as well as shadow puppetry to depict honeybee swarms and a scene where it displayed a dog being beheaded, the organization awards the film industry movies that promotes kindness to animals through storylines, costumes, and the use of special effects.