We already know that "Candyman" 2021 has been pulled forward into the modern day, and as a result, we can expect the film to grapple with contemporary issues of anti-Black racism in America using the popular discourse of the time. Peele has also described this film as a "spiritual sequel" to the original "Candyman," one that will likely capture the mood of the original better than any of its less-lauded direct sequels.
For a hint at how Peele's new vision might look, we turn to Universal's extensive synopsis of the forthcoming film: "For as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago's Cabrini-Green neighborhood were terrorized by a word-of-mouth ghost story about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand, easily summoned by those daring to repeat his name five times into a mirror. In present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, visual artist Anthony McCoy and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright, move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials.
"With Anthony's painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini Green old-timer exposes Anthony to the tragically horrific nature of the true story behind Candyman. Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, unknowingly opening a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifying wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny" (via IndieWire).
Point of note: Though the Cabrini neighborhood still exists, the real-life Cabrini-Green Rowhouse projects were torn down in 2011 to make way for luxury condominiums that the City of Chicago described as mixed-income housing in the rapidly gentrifying Downtown Chicago location where the towers once stood. The Cabrini-Green housing projects were infamous, and provided an iconic backdrop to the original 1992 "Candyman." Just how the new film will grapple with the changing face of the neighborhood is unknown, but count on Jordan Peele to find an interesting way to weave the complex social fabric of present-day Chicago into aesthetic or plot devices germane to the thesis of his film.
