Chris Brown, Laz Alonso in Screen Gems’ ‘Planet B Boy’

Chris Brown performs on NBC's "Today" at Rockefeller Plaza on July 15, 2011 in New York

*Chris Brown and Laz Alonso join “Lost” star Josh Holloway, Josh Peck and Caity Lotz in the ensemble cast of “Planet B Boy,” a music-themed drama from Screen Gems.

The movie, based on the award-winning documentary “Planet B-Boy,” began production in Los Angeles this week under director Benson Lee. Production will eventually move to Montpellier, France.

The 2007 documentary focused on the international world of B-boying, referred to in the States as  breakdancing. Although the urban dance waned in popularity stateside after peaking in the 1980s, it has evolved and thrived in countries including Japan, South Korea, France and Germany, where in underground form it became more aggressive and athletic.

The movie, according to Screen Gems, “is about an all-star American b-boy crew training to compete in France at the Battle of the Year (BOTY) International Championships. After a decade of defeat, the crew and their coach must go up against the best and greatest b-boys in the world: the Koreans, the Russians and the French who have dominated the original American dance form for the last 10 years.”

Watch a clip from the “Planet B Boy” documentary below.