Eminem books out entire cinema so fans can watch his new film 'Bodied' for free

Bodied is a satirical comedy about the world of battle rap

Eminem has booked an entire cinema so that his fans can see his new movie for free.

The rapper announced on Instagram on Thursday that he has bought out a whole AMC venue in Sterling Heights, a suburb of his hometown of Detroit. Tickets for two showings, one on Friday and the other on Saturday, will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Eminem served as a producer for Bodied, a satirical comedy about the world of rap battles. The movie's director, Joseph Kahn, has previously worked on several of the rapper's videos, including the clip for "Without Me", which earned him a Grammy in 2003.

Bodied tells the story of Adam Merkin, an undergraduate college student played by Calum Worthy, who becomes obsessed with battle rapping after writing about it for his thesis paper.

The film tackles the issues of race on the rap scene, with Calum being accused – in one particularly telling scene from the movie's trailer – of "appropriating black culture for his livelihood".

While Kahn had an established working relationship with Eminem when he started working on Bodied, he was wary of asking the rapper for his support too early in the process.

"I always had it in the back of my mind that he was going to come on board at some point," Kahn told The Detroit News.

"But you don't want to go to Em and ask for money or an endorsement on something on big as battle rap, because everybody asks him for things. So I made the movie, showed it to him, and he loved it. Then he decided to come on board, and he helped us put the deal together."

Bodied is out now in US cinemas