Nia DaCosta, the director behind the recently released horror film Candyman, made history over the weekend.
On Monday, Universal Pictures announced DaCosta, 31, had become the first Black female director to see her film debut in the top spot at the domestic box office. Candyman — dubbed as a “spiritual sequel” of the 1992 movie of the same name — netted over $22 million in its premiere domestic weekend, per Box Office Mojo.
DaCosta’s feat also marks the second highest-grossing three-day domestic box office opening for a Black female director — a record currently held by Ava DuVernay for 2018’s A Wrinkle in Time.
The filmmaker, who also co-wrote Candyman with Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld, is currently working on the follow-up to 2019’s Captain Marvel, titled The Marvels, which she will direct for Marvel Studios with a release
The original ’90s film, from writer/director Bernard Rose and based on Clive Barker’s 1986 short story “The Forbidden,” introduced the world to the horror of Candyman.
