Jordan Peele In-Talks to Produce ‘Candyman’ Remake
Jordan Peele may potentially dip his toes into the realm of remakes with Candyman, based on the Clive Barker’s short story “The Forbidden” from Books of Blood.
The 1992 movie itself concerned the story of an urban legend which told the story of an African-American painter who had a romantic affair with a white woman in post-Civil War Chicago who he had been hired to create a portrait for. Furious at learning of this, the woman’s father called forth a lynch mob who then severed the man’s right hand with a rusty blade, covered him in honey, and sentenced him to an agonizing death as hundreds of bees stung him repeatedly. An urban legend states that the ghost of the slave, now known as the Candyman, will kill anyone who says his name five times in front of a mirror – something our protagonist, who researched several urban legends for a college paper, is foolish enough to attempt as a joke. Murder and mayhem ensues as the all-too-real Candyman attacks people with his hook hand and swarms of bees.
According to Bloody Disgusting, Peele is in-line to help produce a remake of the film. Right now, it’s not clear which studio owns the film rights to the Candyman intellectual property (as TriStar Pictures released the first two films in the series and Artisan Entertainment handled the third, with the latter company being merged into Lionsgate), but Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions. Peele may or may not direct the remake as well after completing his original film Us. Following the success of Get Out, Peele’s become very active as a film producer, working on a new version of The Twilight Zone for CBS All Access, The Hunt for Amazon Prime, and Lovecraft Country for HBO. Most recently, Peele produced the Spike Lee Joint BlacKkKlansman, which is still playing in theaters.
Candyman does not have a release date.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
