Movies

Universal Shifts 'Candyman', 'The Forever Purge' And 'Halloween' Sequels Release Dates

into the dark
By Ethan Anderton

Hot on the heels of the first teaser trailer for the anticipated horror sequel Halloween Kills, Universal Pictures has shifted the release dates for both that film and its follow-up. In addition, Universal is shuffling around Blumhouse's upcoming Candyman remake, and The Forever Purge, the next installment of The Purge franchise. Get the latest release date changes to update your depressing calendar below.

Here's the announcement that producer John Carpenter made himself about the delay of Halloween Kills:

With Halloween Kills shifted back to October 15, 2021, that means Halloween Ends will be heading to October 14, 2022, which was previously reserved for another unnamed Blumhouse movie. It sucks that we'll be waiting over a year to see Halloween Kills, but it's the best approach considering the current environment for theatrical releases, especially since it's been predicated that this fall could prove to see another resurgence of COVID-19, along with the regular flu season.

Meanwhile, the remake of Candyman directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Jordan Peele has been pushed back a little bit yet again. Originally slated for release this summer, Candyman was pushed to September 25, but now it will be taking the October 16, 2020 release date that was previous taken by Halloween Kills. We're not sure why Universal thinks it's necessary to push back Halloween Kills, but is still giving Candyman that release date, but it might just make it easier to have one less movie to shuffle around if movie theaters still aren't back to business as usual by October.

Finally, The Forever Purge was another Blumhouse production that should have arrived this summer, but it was pulled from the release calendar entirely. Now it's been rescheduled to a new slot an entire year later, next summer on July 9, 2021. Directed by Everardo Gout and written by James DeMonaco, this is intended to be the final movie in The Purge franchise, and surely Universal wants to give it a proper theatrical spend-off with the biggest audience possible.

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