M-Net Movies Blackout shines the spotlight on Hollywood’s biggest African American stars
On Friday 3 June, MultiChoice and M-Net Channels will launch M-Net Movies Blackout, an urban movie channel celebrating the immense contribution of African American stars to the magic of Hollywood. While the spotlight will fall on a long list of well-known international Black talent, this pop-up channel will also feature a variety of popular films that will appeal to a diverse cross-section of viewers.
Coinciding with the American Black Film Festival (ABFF), an annual international event in Miami dedicated to showcasing entertainment content made by and about people of African descent to a worldwide audience, M-Net Movies Blackout will be available on DStv Premium across Africa. The slate of more than 170 films will be screened on channel 109 for 18 hours a day – from Friday, 3 June at 5:00am until Thursday, 30 June at 10:59pm
Among the stars who will come out to play on M-Net Movies Blackout are Will Smith, Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Hart, Tyler Perry, Wesley Snipes, Viola Davis, Morris Chestnut, Martin Lawrence, Mia Long, Vivica A. Fox and Zoe Saldana.
Some of the big titles that viewers can look forward to are Wild Wild West, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Bad Boys 2, Madea’s Witness Protection, Get Hard, Fast & Furious 7, The Wedding Ringer and Ride Along. Viewers will also see the movie Chocolate City for the very first time. It tells the story of a struggling student who turns to the life of an exotic dancer to make ends meet. Chocolate City is scheduled for broadcast on Sunday, 19 June at 7:30pm
Jan du Plessis, Director: M-Net Channels, says M-Net Movies Blackout builds on the massive success of previous movie pop-up channels on DStv such as last year’s Star Wars extravaganza and kykNET’s Afrikaans language holiday treats, fliekNET. “Pop-up channels are currently all the rage worldwide and by creating these channels, it grants us an opportunity to curate available content for the enjoyment of viewers with different tastes. While movies with phenomenal African American talent are often scattered across our various channels, this will be the first time you’ll find them all on one channel.”
The full schedule for M-Net Movies Blackout will be available on dstv.com as well as on the DStv Electronic Programme Guide from Monday, 23 May. A selected number of these movies will also be available on the Dstv Catch Up service.
