MRC Film Teams With Tim Story On Horror-Comedy ‘The Blackening’
MRC Film announced today their upcoming feature film “The Blackening,” from director Tim Story featuring an all-star ensemble cast. Tracy Oliver (“Girls Trip,” “First Wives Club”) wrote the feature film adaptation alongside Dewayne Perkins (“The Amber Ruffin Show,” “Brooklyn Nine Nine”). In addition to directing the film, Story will also produce via his The Story Company banner alongside Oliver’s Tracy Yvonne Productions and E. Brian Dobbins of Artists First. Jason Clark and Marcei Brown will also produce for Catchlight Studios. Principal photography recently wrapped in Los Angeles.
The talented ensemble includes a robust roundup of top artists from some of the most popular film and television projects in Hollywood. “The Blackening” stars: Dewayne Perkins (“The Upshaws,” “Saved by the Bell“), Grace Byers (“Harlem,” “Empire”), Jermaine Fowler (“Coming 2 America,” “Judas and the Black Messiah”), Melvin Gregg (“Nine Perfect Strangers,” “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”), Jay Pharoah (“SNL,” “Resort to Love”), Yvonne Orji (“Insecure,” “Vacation Friends”), Antoinette Robertson (“Dear White People”), X Mayo (“The Good Doctor,” “The Farewell”), and Sinqua Walls (''Resort to Love,” “American Soul”).
Based on the 2018 Comedy Central digital short written by Perkins, “The Blackening” centers around seven Black friends who go away for the weekend only to find themselves trapped in a cabin with a killer who has a vendetta. The feature expands on the original short’s basic premise: “The Black cast member is always the first to die in a horror movie, but what happens when everyone is Black?”
Story has directed ten major studio feature films—eight of them have debuted number one at the box office during opening weekend—most recently 2021’s “Tom & Jerry” as well as “Ride Along 2,” “Think Like A Man Too,” “Ride Along,” “Think Like A Man,” “Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer,” “Fantastic Four” and “Barbershop.” His films have grossed over $1 billion at the box office making him the first ever Black director to cross this milestone mark. On the television side, Story is currently a director and executive producer of ABC’s “Queens.”
“The Blackening” digital short was written by Perkins for the Chicago improv group 3-PEAT, where he was a member. 3-PEAT’s other members include Chris Redd, John Thibodeaux, Shantira Jackson, Lisa Beasley, Nnamdi Ngwe, Patrick Rowland, Allison Blair, and Torian Miller.