Top 10 Nollywood Movies made ₦1 Billion Naira in 2016, according to new reports by Nigeria's Business Day Newspaper. This is based on movie ticket sales at the cinemas.
Below is an excerpt from the report on Business Day Newspaper (January 20, 2017), followed by some interesting reactions to the trend.
"Nigeria's moviemakers set a new earnings record at the cinemas in 2016 despite the fact that the country's economy plunged into a recession.
Data compiled by Business Day shows that the Top 10 Movies raked in a minimum of 1.0 billion from the cinemas, as Nigerians increasingly turned out to watch Nollywood movies.
The 2016 figure represents more than twice the about 400 million made by the Top 10 Movies in 2015." - BUSINESS DAY
The Newspaper went further to state that 'THE WEDDING PARTY' a film by Ireti Doyle, grossed ₦200 Million naira at the cinemas and leads the pack of high grossing movies for last year 2016.
The movie stars Banky W, Adesua Etomi, Atunyota Akpobome (Alibaba), Sola Sobowale, Ireti Doyle, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Zainab Balogun, AY Makun, Ikechukwu, Beverly Naya, Enyinna Nwigwe, Lepacious Bose and Frank Donga.
Second top grossing movie at the cinema was 'A TRIP TO JAMAICA' a film by Ayo Makun, which made ₦168 Million naira at the Box Office. The movie stars Funke Akindele (Jenifa), Nse Ikpe-Etim, Chris Attoh, Rebecca Silvera, Paul Campbell, Dan Davis, Eric Roberts and of course, Ayo Makun himself.
Meanwhile, 'THE CEO' by Kunle Afolayan reportedly made ₦71 Million and ₦60 Million respectively at the Cinemas. The movie stars Hilda Dokubo, Wale Ojo, Angelique Kidjo, Nico Panagio, Jimmy Jean Louis, Fatym Lyachi, Peter King, Kemi Lala Akindoju and Aurelie Eliam.
Reactions to Nollywood Movies Made 1Billion Naira in 2016
Interestingly, Abidemi Yusuf - a news junky and political analyst (according to his Instagram Bio), reacted objectively to a story shared by THE NET regarding the BusinessDay report of Nollywood Movies grossing ₦1bn naira, when he commented the following on IG:
"@thenetng and N1b is only about $2.5M for top ten movies in a nation of 180miĺlion. That means at about $5 a movie, only about 500k watched our top 10 movies. That's an average of 50k people a movie. I don't really think this is worth an celebration nor news. This is not good news for the second largest economy in Africa." - @abi4u2011
If more would people turn-up to watch Nollywood movies in cinemas, box office sales can more than triple in a matter of time. However, it appears most people prefer to watch Nigerian movies at the comfort of their home with families--after buying a hard-copy DVD/VCD from the market, or simply by watching online--many of which are free.
Note that, 'Box Office' is a term used to refer to the commercial success of a movie, play, or actor in terms of the audience size or takings they command. It is also a place at a theater where tickets are bought or reserved.
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