Candyman Director Nia DaCosta Becomes First Black Woman to Top U.S. Box Office

Rachel Murray/Getty Images

Candyman director Nia DaCosta is now the first Black woman to debut a film in the top spot at the domestic box office its opening weekend.

DaCosta’s Candyman, a remake of the 1992 horror classic, opened at number one at the United States box office its debut weekend, making over $22 million, per IMDb’s Box Office Mojo.

The film, which DaCosta co-wrote with Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld, beat opening-weekend prediction of $15 million, according to Variety. 

While DaCosta directed the film in addition to co-writing the screenplay, her name was omitted from several headlines, with the focus was put on Peele, likely due to his name recognition.

DaCosta addressed her lack of press during a Monday interview with the New York Times, saying, “I was prepared for no one to care that I was a part of it.”

“I didn’t really think about it much until people on Twitter were like, ‘Excuse me, it’s Nia DaCosta’s Candyman.’ I was like, ‘Oh, that’s really sweet,'” she added. “I’m sure if it were another female filmmaker, I would have been doing the same thing. Like, ‘Hey, you should probably be talking about the woman making the movie, not just the guy who’s more famous.'”

Continuing to make history, DaCosta is now in production on Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels — making her the first Black woman to direct a Marvel Studios picture.

Candyman is also the second-highest opening-weekend gross for a movie directed by a Black woman, with Ava DuVernay’s 2018 A Wrinkle in Time holding the number one spot.

DuVernay’s film grossed $33 million its opening weekend and was the first movie directed by a Black woman to earn more than $100 million at the box office.