The only marching band-centric major motion picture ever is getting a sequel! VH1 announced that it will collaborate with producer Nick Cannon for a television movie called “Drumline: A New Beat.”
“‘Drumline’ was not just a successful film; it was a cultural happening,” said Nick Cannon, who starred in the original 2002 film, in a press release. “Even though it was released over a decade ago, I am constantly approached by people on the street who tell me how much of an impact it made on them.”
The film will feature a female lead character—an upper-class Brooklyn girl who defies her parents in order to attend a Historically Black College (HBCU) in Louisiana, so she can join and revitalize its once-prominent drumline and try to become the first female section leader.
“I feel like the HBCU band community had some mixed emotions,” says Christy Walker, founder of HBCU band website The5thQuarter.com. “Some people are happy to see a sequel because they felt like the first movie publicized our craft and made more kids want to join HBCU bands. Others are little leery because they don’t want it to cheapen the craft of what we do, they don’t want it watered down and they want it to be more realistic than the first movie was.”
Fox Television Studios and VH1 will produce the film, aiming for a fall 2014 premiere. Cannon will also reprise his role as Devon Miles though no other cast members have been announced yet.
In other HBCU news, this year’s Honda Battle of the Bands incorporated a major change as the yearly event steadily grows in popularity. For the first time ever, fans voted via text and the title of “Fan Favorite” was awarded to North Carolina A&T State University. Other bands that performed were Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University, Bethune-Cookman University, Morehouse College, South Carolina State University, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Winston-Salem State University.
