Candyman has officially topped the box office after grossing $22.3 million in its opening weekend, and it’s setting records and surpassing expectations in the process.
The film, directed by Nia DaCosta, is the first directed by a Black woman to debut at No. 1 in the U.S., Indie Wire reports, with films by Ava DuVernay and Gina Prince-Blythewood previously opening in second.
The movie was projected to debut at around $21 million on its opening weekend with some projections guessing around $15 million, but it’s surely beat out any expectations. Jordan Peele took part in the film as a producer, as it reimagined Clive Barker’s short story on the murdered son of a slave and works as a spiritual sequel to the 1992 slasher film with the same name.
A studio audience survey reportedly found 37 percent of the Universal/MGM/Monkeypaw film’s audience was Black, while white people made up 30 percent, Latinos 22 percent, and Asians 5 percent. Also, this weekend, Disney’s Free Guy finished in second place in it’s third weekend, as the Ryan Reynolds-starring flick dropped just 27 percent, grossing over $79 million. Jungle Cruise, which is available to watch at home unlike the two films that triumphed over it this week, dropped 21 percent and passed $100 million domestically.
