Universal Pictures has announced a new release date for its upcoming horror movie Candyman from director Nia DaCosta and producer Jordan Peele, as the film will now sink its bloody hook into theatrical audiences on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021.

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 (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his partner, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris), 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 (Colman Domingo) 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.

Oscar winner Peele and DaCosta co-wrote the script with Win Rosenfeld, who serves as Peele's producing partner at Monkeypaw Productions. The two of them produced Candyman with Ian Cooper (Us), and the film was executive produced by David Kern, Aaron L. Gilbert and Jason Cloth.

Candyman is based on the 1992 film of the same name from writer-director Bernard Rose, which was itself based on Clive Barker's chilling short story The Forbidden. With its move to summer 2021, Candyman will now open against Disney's documentary The Beatles: Get Back. Click here to watch the film's clever black-and-white animated prologue.