It’s a sweet day for Candyman director Nia DaCosta as she makes history as the first Black female director to have a movie open at the top of the U.S. box office. After a sluggish summer, moviegoers came out in force to see the updated version of the classic horror film.
The A.V. Club reports that Candyman netted $22 million in its first weekend, passing Free Guy to claim the top spot.
Ava DuVernay’s 2018 film A Wrinkle in Time is the top opening weekend earner for a Black female director, earning $33 million, but its release came in the shadow of Marvel’s Black Panther, which was firmly on top of the box office when A Wrinkle in Time was released.
Nia DaCosta, Candyman make box office history
Candyman is a spiritual sequel to the original 1992 movie about a ghostly killer known as the Candyman haunting the Cabrini-Green’s public housing development in Chicago. That film has two sequels which the 2021 edition ignores. In the new movie, the area where Cabrini-Green used to stand has been gentrified, and is now home to middle-class people living in upscale high rises. For some, Candyman is a story they’ve heard while those who were there know what Candyman is and what he can do.
The entire movie is rife with symbolism, connecting a classic horror story with the present-day fight against police brutality and systemic racism.
Though the box office has struggled with staggered reopenings and the persistent threat of COVID-19 and the delta variant, Candyman’s performance over the weekend is a reminder of the power of horror films to bring in audiences. Candyman’s release was pushed from 2020 to 2021 because of the pandemic, and even with the uncertainty still hanging over Hollywood, the movie’s $33 million opening is quite a feat and a testament to the incredible cast and crew who brought it to life.
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