Global content leader Lionsgate announced today that the new horror-comedy The Blackening from MRC will U.S. premiere at the Tribeca Festival on June 13. The screening will take place in Harlem at the legendary Apollo. The film opens in theaters nationwide on June 16, 2023.
The film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year was met with raves and a wild, raucous midnight screening, out of which Lionsgate acquired the film from MRC.
The Blackening centers around a group of Black friends who reunite for a Juneteenth weekend getaway only to find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a twisted killer. Forced to play by his rules, the friends soon realize this ain’t no motherf****** game. Directed by Tim Story (Ride Along, Think Like A Man, Barbershop) and co-written by Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip, Harlem) and Dewayne Perkins (“The Amber Ruffin Show,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”), The Blackening skewers genre tropes and poses the sardonic question: if the entire cast of a horror movie is Black, who dies first? Lionsgate and MRC present, a Story Company / Tracy Yvonne / Artists First / CatchLight Studios production.
Directed by Tim Story, co-written by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins, The Blackening stars Antoinette Robertson, Dewayne Perkins, Sinqua Walls, Grace Byers, X Mayo, Melvin Gregg, Jermaine Fowler, Yvonne Orji, and Jay Pharoah, and is produced by Jason Clark, Marcei A. Brown, E. Brian Dobbins, Tracy Oliver, Tim Story, and Sharla Sumpter Bridgett. Perkins serves as a co-producer, with Vicky Story as associate producer.
Director Tim Story said, “Of course, we want The Blackening to be enjoyed by everyone – but it’s especially a celebration of and a theatrical event for Black culture. This film really shows that Black people are not a monolith – there are so many different things that define us, but also bring us together. That’s why it’s so deeply meaningful that we are premiering at the legendary Apollo. For more than a century, this theater has been the epicenter that originated so much Black entertainment before it sent its shockwaves out to the world. As we lead up to the release of our film on Juneteenth Weekend, it’s a unique pleasure to be celebrating our U.S. premiere in this historic place.”
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