''Chocolate City'' is a 2015 American

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed and written by filmmaker

Jean-Claude La Marre Jean-Claude La Marre is a Haitian-American actor, writer, and director. His acting credits include the films ''Malcolm X'' and ''Dead Presidents''. On television, he has guest-starred on ''New York Undercover'', '' Law & Order'', and '' NYPD Bl ...

. The film stars

Robert Ri'chard Robert Andrew Ri'chard (born January 7, 1983) is an American television and film actor, known for his roles as Arnaz Ballard on the UPN sitcom '' One on One'' and Bobby Walker on the Nickelodeon sitcom ''Cousin Skeeter''. Early life Ri'chard was ...

Michael Jai White Michael Jai White (born November 10, 1967) is an American actor, director and martial artist. He was the first African American to portray a major comic book superhero in a major motion picture, starring as Al Simmons, the protagonist in the 1997 ...

Carmen Electra Tara Leigh Patrick (born April 20, 1972), known professionally as Carmen Electra, is an American actress, model, singer, and media personality. She began her career as a singer after moving to Minneapolis, where she met Prince, who produced h ...

and

Vivica A. Fox Vivica Anjanetta Fox (born July 30, 1964) is an American actress, producer, and television host. Fox began her career on ''Soul Train'' (19821983). She eventually continued her career with roles on the daytime television soap operas ''Days of O ...

. The plot is about the life for a struggling college student changes in an instant when he meets the owner of a male strip club who convinces him to give amateur night a whirl. This film was shot in

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...

and was released in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

outlets on May 22, 2015. A 2017 sequel named '' Chocolate City: Vegas Strip'' is available on Netflix.

Synopsis

Michael (Robert Ri'chard) a college student takes a job as an exotic dancer to make ends meet, and as the money rolls in, he has to deal with the attention of the female club goers while hiding his job from his mother (Vivica A. Fox) and girlfriend (Imani Hakim).

Cast

Production

The film is a black version of the 2012 male stripper movie, ''

Magic Mike ''Magic Mike'' is a 2012 American comedy-drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, and Matthew McConaughey. The plot revolves around Adam, a 19-year-old who enters the wor ...

'', starring

Channing Tatum Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor. Tatum made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his breakthrough role in the 2006 dance film ''Step Up (film), Step Up''. He gained wider attention for ...

. According to the film's director,

, "There was one glaring omission in ''Magic Mike'', and that was people of color. We figured that was a missed opportunity for them and we jumped on it."

Release

In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, the film was released in a

and through

on May 22, 2015.

Freestyle Releasing Freestyle Releasing, LLC is an independent film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2004, specializing in releasing films theatrically. Unlike most distributors, Freestyle Releasing does not put up any prints and advertising ...

handled the theatrical release with

Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global. The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...

handling the

and home media release of the film. The film also debuted on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

on June 10, 2015. It had 991,000 viewers in its first airing.

Marketing

On April 24, 2015, the official trailer and poster were released.

Sequel

A sequel named '' Chocolate City: Vegas'' was released to BET on July 1, 2017. On August 12, 2017, it was added to Netflix behind the name ''Chocolate City: Vegas Strip''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chocolate City 2015 films 2015 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films 2010s English-language films Films set in California Films shot in California African-American films Films directed by Jean-Claude La Marre Films about striptease 2010s American films