Jordan Peele's CANDYMAN Film Will Address Toxic Fandom

It kind of disheartening to see how toxic fandom has become these days. I’m not the only one who feels this way, a lot of people don’t like the bullying and the hate that spews out on the internet. But it’s there and I imagine it isn’t going away anytime soon.

Well, it sounds like Jordan Peele’s upcoming reboot/spiritual sequel to the 1990s horror franchise Candyman is going to address this toxic fandom. Monkeypaw Creative Director Ian Cooper explained to Deadline:

“We talk a lot about fans and the idea of appeasing fans and when you do that and how do you do that and when do you not do that. I think my issue with fandom is that it’s really problematic. It’s probably the most problematic thing facing the genre.

“It typically comes with a dogma that is abrasive and that is more resistant to change and permutation than you would think. I think what we’re trying to do with Candyman is both be mischievous in how we address the relationship to the first film but also be very satisfying.”

Candyman is based on a story created by Clive Barker. The first film was released in 1992 and it starred Tony Todd as Candyman, “a former slave lynched for a relationship with a white woman. If you say his name five times in the mirror, he comes for you.” Cooper went on to discuss what Jordan is looking to accomplish with this new movie:

“What we’re doing with Candyman and how Jordan is crafting it on the page is going to be very exciting and rewarding to audiences that haven’t seen the original film as well as people who’ve seen the original film. In a broad sense of the word, this film will stand alone if you’ve never heard of a film called Candyman and will dovetail in a pretty complicated and interesting way to the original. In short, I think this will really fit in with what we’re doing with Us and did with Get Out in a way that will be circuitous.”

The movie is being directed by Nia DaCosta and when previously talking about the movie she said that it “returns to the neighborhood where the legend began: the now-gentrified section of Chicago where the Cabrini-Green housing projects once stood.”

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is set to play Candyman, Lakeith Stanfield (Get Out, Sorry To Bother You) is going to be playing Anthony, and Tony Todd will also be included in the movie.

Anthony is said to be a “socially pronounced artist in Chicago who researches the urban legend of Candyman.” It was also explained that after he investigates the killer’s last known whereabouts, “strange killings begin to occur around Anthony.”

What do you think about this movie looking to address toxic fandom?