Boogie Town

Boogie Town
Directed by	Chris Stokes
Written by	Chris Stokes
Starring	Marques Houston Brenda Song Mykal Anthony Bean Katerina Graham Vanessa Simmons Khleo Thomas Joseph C. Phillips
Cinematography	Rodney Taylor
Distributed by	Vivendi Entertainment
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Boogie Town is a science fiction, dance battle romance film which is directed by Chris Stokes. The film is produced by Vivendi Entertainment and the film was set to be released in theatres worldwide October 2011, however it was set to be originally released in the summer of 2009. The lead roles are portrayed by Marques Houston and Brenda Song. Mykal Anthony Bean, Katerina Graham, Joseph C. Phillips and Vanessa Simmons also play major roles in the film.

Plot

The film is described as a "West Side Story" for the hip hop generation. It is set in a futuristic New York City, in 2015 where battle dancing is permanently banned because Chief Salisbury's son was murdered during a battle in 2009 when battle dancing was at its height. Ever since then, with help of the secret government agency SG7, Chief Salisbury has made it his own personal mission to permanently put an end to battle dancing.

The film centers on the dancers, Natalie (Brenda Song) and Micah (Marques Houston). Micah is a very skilled dancer and is the leader of dance crew, "The Trojans" while his former best friend Jay (Mykal Anthony Bean) is the leader of "The Warriors". Micah, Jay and their crews have been rivals for a very long time and because of the ban on battle dancing, the crews have created an underground world named "Boogie Town" in order to continue battle dancing. Micah then meets Jay's beautiful young sister, Natalie at a popular restaurant who has just arrived home from college. Natalie, unaware that this is her brother's rival, invites him to dinner and he accepts. Soon after the dinner, the two become a romantic couple and after Natalie realizes that her boyfriend is her brother's biggest rival, she tries her best to keep their relationship a secret with the help of Micah. Natalie and Micah become a modern-day Romeo and Juliet and are aware of the consequences of being seen having a romantic relationship but are deeply in love with each other. Both Micah and Jay have several mysterious and supernatural powers such as "ENERGY" and "HERCULEAN". Chief Salisbury and the SG7 created a special unit in the police department called the “Boogie Police”, a unit that are specially trained to track down and capture anyone who is caught dance battling in New York. The SG7 is after Micah and Jay because they want to use their blood to create super soldiers for an upcoming war (World War III). Natalie then explains to Micah that she knows he is a Herculean and tells him to go see a man named Genesis, and that he will answer all his questions. Micah takes the number and goes to see him. He gets no answers. Instead Genesis tells him that he is not ready yet and that when he is, he will see him then. The respectful rivalry between the two crews, goes past battle dancing and becomes a dangerous war when Jay finds out that his young sister Natalie is having a romantic relationship with his enemy.

Production

Pre-production

Boogie Town, a modern day West Side Story for the hip hop generation, takes place in a New York City of the near future. In a society where battle dancing has been outlawed, illegal dance contests now take place in the underground world of “Boogie Town.” Micah and Jay, leaders of rival dance crews, possess ‘Herculean’ powers which take the battles to extreme levels. Despite the animosity between the two crews, Micah falls in love with Jay’s beautiful sister, Natalie and the two become a future-day Romeo and Juliet.

Boogie Town is loosely based on Arthur Laurents 1957 stage musical, West Side Story. On December 22, 2008, Variety reported that Vivendi Entertainment acquired worldwide theatrical distribution rights for the film and that Chris Stokes would be directing, writing the screenplay and producing the film. The distribution agreement also covers television, home video, internet/digital and mobile rights. It was also reported that Monique Scott and Cheryl Trimmer will also serve as producers of the film, additionally, Stokes has brought Shane Sparks to choreograph the film. The film has been described as You Got Served meets Twilight.

The film will also be distributed by Christopher Brian Films, Stokes film company. This will be one of the first projects to be put into development by Vivendi Entertainment next to the Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson-directed film, New York, I Love You.

Tom O’Malley, president and CEO of Vivendi Entertainment said, "Chris' vision for You Got Served inspired a new generation of dance films. We’re thrilled that Chris will now call VE home. Boogie Town is the start of what we expect to be a long and rewarding relationship."

Stokes, who is also the founder and CEO of Christopher Brian Films said: "We are excited to partner with Vivendi Entertainment. Tom O'Malley has created an open and collaborative culture committed to helping independent filmmakers like myself. VE is the perfect creative home for Boogie Town as well as for my future films."

Filming

With more than 300 hired to become extras for the film, production began on December 3, 2008 in Downtown Los Angeles, U.S.A. and was supposed to end in April of the same year. Several days before the announced production date, several members of the cast were photographed while headed to a wardrobe studio for fittings. Work was allegedly stopped on December 12, 2008 after payroll issues developed, because none of the background performers were paid at the time. In April 2009, principal photography was stopped due to Song's Suite Life schedule and the film's release date has been postponed. Song said in a June 2009 interview: "We’re actually not done shooting it yet. We had to put it on hold because of On Deck, so we’ll have to finish shooting it, but hopefully soon."

I don't do a lot of dancing in the movie, but I have to do some, and Five Styles and Shane Sparks choreographed this movie and they are amazing dancers. And Marques Houston has been dancing his whole life... Marques is in it! He plays Micha. He's the lead guy. I'm his love interest. So let me tell you, it is so amazing to go see the rehearsals and they do this whole dance number and Marques already picked it all up. And I'm like, 'Hold on a second! Hold on!' I don't have to do a lot of dancing, thank goodness, but I have a new found respect for dancers. It's so amazing. There's wire works. It's going to be really, really fun.

Brenda Song

Brenda Song's involvement in the project, wherein she will play Natalie, was first announced weeks before Houston was confirmed to work on the film.

Marketing

Though it was still the first days of principal photography for Boogie Town, Vivendi Entertainment has already announced that Boogie Town will have several consumer products including a soundtrack based on the film which will include Houston and will be released by the Universal Music Group which Houston is signed to.

Cast

• Marques Houston as Micah
• Brenda Song as Natalie
• Mykal Anthony Bean as Jay/Hades
• Katerina Graham as Ingrid
• Vanessa Simmons as Cicely
• Khleo Thomas as Gizmo
• Joseph C. Phillips as Chief Salsbury

Release

The film was originally supposed to be released in the summer of 2009 in the United States and Canada. The original release date was June 16, 2009. The film's first version of the official trailer was released in March 2009. The film did not finish filming in June due to Song's Suite Life schedule and the film's shooting was postponed in the late summer of 2009 because of Houston's worldwide tour and Song's schedule. According to Vivendi and the film's official website (now offline), the film was planned to be released in theatres in July 2011. It is unknown if the film will still be released.

External links

• Boogie Town at IMDb
• Boogie Town at Hollywood.com