A Jordan Peele Movie Just Made History At The Box Office
A Jordan Peele movie just set a box office record over the weekend. It is just another way the guy has taken over the horror space.
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Jordan Peele has spent the last few years cementing his spot among the very best horror movie makers out there, churning out a number of scary, yet thought-provoking flicks from the director’s chair. And he’s also been on the writer/ producer side of things as well. Now, his latest movie is starting to break some records at the box office with Candyman outperforming its original expectations and sending the director Nia Dacosta into rarified air.
Not only did Candyman land Jordan Peele and company at the top of the box office ranks after its opening weekend, but according to IndieWire, the film appears to be the first flick to open at number one with a black female director at the helm. Candyman closed the weekend with a $25.8 million dollar haul that had it beating out the Ryan Reynolds comedy-action film Free Guy which had been at the top for the previous two weeks. But entering the end of the summer timeline is when some horrors start hitting the screen and the DaCosta/ Peele pairing did excellent work to close things out.
Jordan Peele handled the script for Candyman along with DaCosta and Win Rosenfeld. It is a sequel to the original, 1992 Candyman in a story about the titular spirit who can be summoned by saying its name five times in the mirror. While the Candyman franchise has seen other movies, this original story does follow up the events of the first flick, updating some of the stories in that timeline. Unlike that first movie, though along the lines of what Peele has done with his films, this latest one wraps the horror element with pieces as social commentary as well.
Nia DaCosta and Jordan Peele didn’t just win the box office either. Critics were more than impressed with the effort as well. Candyman is currently sitting at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes through more than 200 reviews with critics heaping praise on the direction, whip-smart writing, style, scares, social criticisms along with elements of racial tension, and the star turn by lead Yahya Abdul-Mateen.
Again, this isn’t Jordan Peele’s first run around the horror block either. After gaining fame in the comedy space on shows like MADtv and then Key & Peele, he’s pivoted to a totally different genre in recent years with flicks like Get Out and Us as well as pulling hosting and writing duties for the Twilight Zone reboot for Paramount+. He has become one of the true visionaries in this space, able to combine certain elements into his films beyond just the standard, bumps-in-the-night fare we’ve been given in the past. DaCosta meanwhile will head over to the superhero space with her next film, The Marvels which will pick up Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers story while also introducing Kamala Kahn as Ms. Marvel for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Next up for Jordan Peele will be a remake of Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs. And then he will be coming out with another original horror film when Nope hits the screens in 2022. This guy is currently at the very top of his game.
