Chocolate City (film)

Chocolate City is a 2015 American comedy-drama film directed and written by filmmaker Jean-Claude La Marre. The film stars Robert Ri'chard, Michael Jai White, Carmen Electra and Vivica A. Fox. The film centers on a struggling college student whose life changes when he tries amateur night at a male strip. This film was shot in Inglewood, California and was released in a limited release and through video on demand 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).

Production
The film is a black version of the 2012 male stripper movie, Magic Mike, starring Channing Tatum. According to the film's director, Jean-Claude La Marre, "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 film was released in a limited release and through video on demand on May 22, 2015. Freestyle Releasing handled the theatrical release with Paramount Home Entertainment handling the video on demand and home media release of the film. The film also debuted on BET 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.