January 8, 2016 – Los Angeles, CA – It was revealed today that Deon Taylor’s comedy “Meet the Blacks” has landed a wide theatrical release this spring through Freestyle Releasing. The film will open nationwide this April 29th.
A comedy/horror hybrid spoofing the hit film “The Purge,” “Meet the Blacks” stars Mike Epps (“The Hangover,” “50 Shades of Black,” “Resident Evil: Apocalypse”), George Lopez (“Lopez Tonight,” “Swing Vote,” “Balls of Fury”), Mike Tyson (“The Hangover” series “Scary Movie 5”), Bresha Webb (NBC’s “Truth Be Told”), Zulay Henao (“True Memoirs of An International Assassin”) as well as a ‘who’s who’ of pop culture personalities including Gary Owen (“Ride Along”) Charlie Murphy (“The Chappelle Show”), Tameka “Tiny” Cottle (VH1’s TI & Tiny with Rap artist husband TI), gossip columnist Perez Hilton, Paul Mooney (Richard Pryor’s longtime writing partner), Vine star Andrew Bachelor, and comedians Lil Duvall, DeRay Davis and Lavell Crawford.
“Meet the Blacks” is written, produced and directed by former pro basketball player turned filmmaker Deon Taylor (“Supremacy” “Chain Letter,” “Dead Tone”) through his Hidden Empire Film Group. Roxanne Avent (“Nite Tales,” “The Hustle,” “Free Agents”) and Shannon McIntosh (“The Hateful Eight,” “Django Unchained,” “Inglorious Basterds”) produced the film alongside Taylor.
Original music for the film is written, produced and performed by RZA, the iconic producer, multi-instrumentalist, author, rapper, actor, director, composer, and screenwriter.
Said Taylor, “’Meet the Blacks’ takes spoofing to a new level and is pure cinematic fun for audiences who just want to laugh. This movie assembles a very diverse comedy all-star team that delivers on this promise – in a big way. We truly feel it has all the ingredients for a breakout hit.”
Taylor added, “Freestyle is a great partner for this film. They are a dynamic team who are astute at reaching audiences in unique ways resulting in great connectivity with viewers. Together with Freestyle, we think audiences will definitely make an appointment to ‘Meet the Blacks’ this April!”
A “Meet the Blacks” teaser clip stealthily debuted on ‘Black Friday’ (the Friday after Thanksgiving) and attracted an impressive 1.2 million social media hits in less than 24 hours. Taylor credits the video’s traction with not only capturing the zeitgeist of the nation’s Black Friday shopping frenzy, but also with the invaluable viral support it received from the film’s ensemble cast. “Nearly everyone in our cast has a major cult following on social media,” said Taylor. “We cast it this way so we’d have a secret weapon built into the fiber of the film. A case in point is Andrew Bachelor, known as King Bach to his 14.5 million Vine followers worldwide. And with more than five billion loops on his videos, Bachelor is ranked the most followed Viner on the globe and plays an overly enthusiastic purge participant in “Meet the Blacks”. “Andrew and the cast’s ongoing support will be invaluable,” said Taylor.
