‘Candyman’ Crushing Late August B.O. With Near $21M Opening
In the wake of a CinemaCon which rallied hopes that exhibition would indeed rise from the ashes of a pandemic and an industry intoxicated by streaming comes Universal/MGM/Monkeypaw’s reboot of 1990s horror IP Candyman which is bound for a $20.7M weekend opening. Not only does the debut indicate the continued appetite for moviegoing among the 18-34 bunch, which turned out at 71% here, but it’s a solid opening for a horror movie during late August, which isn’t exactly a primetime for the box office.
Social media exploded for Candyman according to analytics corp RelishMix which measured an entire reach of 144.1M before opening, a boost from the social media universe of 38.5M on Peele’s 2017 Get Out and 122.8M from 2019’s Us. Candyman‘s SMU across Facebook, Youtube views, Instagram and Twitter is close to 40% above the horror genre average. “Keep in mid that the film dropped the first trailer just three weeks before the lockdown in February 2020 and resumed the digital campaign nine weeks ago,” exclaims RelishMix. YouTube views for the seven owned videos are again at 51% and its viral rate of 19:1 is solid. MGM’s social media channel of 4.2M is in the cross-promotional mix with Universal Pictures social at 43.2M SMU.
In regards to pre-weekend chatter, RelishMix reports, “While fans debate whether this is a remake or a sequel, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II clarified on Fallon, that this is a continuation of the 1992 original 30 years later. With Jordan Peele onboard, fan expectations run high in anticipation of the return of this classic horror villain who’s described as a ‘Black Freddy or Black Jason’ as the film explores racial issues. Plus, fans are looking at the journey into the fine art world, woven into artists creations as they are influenced by demons and ghosts.”
Some of the notable social media marketing drops include this featurette about the underlying cultural significance of the film and how it’s opening doors for young Black creators in the horror genre. This was dropped on Juneteenth and was also livestreamed on Twitter:
Of the social media standouts in the cast, Abdul-Mateen II counts 352K fans.
