Candyman release date set for August 2021 after latest delay

(Image credit: Universal)

The new Candyman release date has been confirmed just a few weeks after its most recent delay, and we'll be waiting a while to see the sickly sweet horror unfold.

Variety broke the news that Candyman will now arrive on August 27, 2021. The film was initially set to debut in June this year, then pandemic concerns meant it was pushed back to September 25, and again to October 16, before finally being delayed outright to 2021.

Candyman is both a reboot for the horror franchise and a spiritual sequel to the original film from 1992. It returns to Chicago's Cabrini Green neighborhood, now rapidly gentrifying, where rumors still circle about the mysterious killer who only appears if you say his name five times in a mirror. Aquaman and Watchmen actor Yahya Abul-Mateen plays an artist who becomes embroiled in the myth, in a story written by Get Out's Jordan Peele and directed by Nia DaCosta (who is also set to direct Captain Marvel 2).

There's still only been one official Candyman trailer, but it's definitely worth a rewatch. The "art project gone bad" premise gives off some welcome Velvet Buzzsaw vibes. That said, all of Velvet Buzzsaw's characters being ridiculous, self-obsessed assholes cements it as a comedy horror even as it runs through one grizzly kill after another. Candyman doesn't look like it will show us any such mercy. While we wait, be sure to check out the best horror movies of all time.

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.