Horror fans have been questioning what the new Candyman movie—produced by Jordan Peele through his MonkeyPaw studio and directed by Nia DaCosta—could be about now that Chicago’s infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects (the setting for the original 1992 film) have been torn down, and now we seem to have our first small answer: Speaking at the Produced By conference (via Deadline), MonkeyPaw creative director Ian Cooper revealed that Peele wants to use Candyman to “address how toxic fandom has become.” He says that he and Peele “talk a lot about fans and the idea of appeasing fans,” specifically when to do it, how to do it, and when not to do it, and Candyman will apparently be “mischievous” in how it relates to Bernard Rose’s original.
He adds that he thinks fandom is “really problematic,” which Deadline takes as a reference to stuff like the Game Of Thrones petition or Star Wars’ Kelly Marie Tran getting harassed online (which was definitely about more than just “fandom,” but whatever). He wouldn’t really say how that will be reflected in Candyman, of course, but it sounds like Peele has some idea in mind that specifically plays with the expectations that a Candyman fan may have for a remake/reboot. This idea has apparently gone through tons of revisions, including some that “are so high concept they’re basically a Gus Van Sant film.”
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is playing the new Candyman (a supernatural serial killer of sorts who comes to people and murders them when they say his name five times), and Cooper refused to say much of anything about whether or not original Candyman actor Tony Todd would be involved at all.