Recent data emanating from Nigeria’s Nollywood has indicated that Funke Akindele’s recent blockbuster flick, ‘A Tribe Called Judah’, was not only the first Nigerian movie to gross N1 billion but contributed more than 14% of Nigerian cinemas’ earnings for the year 2023. This is as Nigerian cinemas was revealed to have grossed more than N7.2 billion in 2023 from over 2.6 million admissions, with Nollywood averaging a 39 per cent market share. This data insight is coming from ‘The Industry’, a journal by film insights publication. The film was the first Nollywood film to hit one billion naira in cinema.

The new data insights showed that the earnings are over N416 million more than in 2022, with a seven per cent yearon-year increase in market share. However, while 2022 gross was earned from 64 locations, there were 70 locations in 2023. The journal noted that revenue growth, mostly hinged on increased ticket prices, is happening at a different pace than admissions growth, which still needs to be significantly higher. Despite the success of ‘A Tribe Called Judah’, Akindele’s previous film, ‘Omo Ghetto: The Saga’ (2020), currently holds the record for the most admissions recorded for a Nollywood film at 449,901. After the lockdown, the project primarily returned the audience to Nigerian cinemas and converted new audiences. “If released in the same period as ‘A Tribe Called Judah’, with an average ticket price at N3, 700, it’d have made over N1.6 billion, which raises the question of ticket prices and actual cinema habit growth, despite the yearly increase in gross revenues,” noted the insights. Ticket prices are at N7, 000 in most cinemas in city centres.

It continued: “In a similar context, the first ‘Black Panther’ movie, released in 2018, had over 200,000 admissions more than ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’. “The latter went on to break the record for the first film to gross one billion naira in West Africa, a feat aided by increased ticket prices and more screening locations. “The former grossed over N800 million at the time. In 2018, there were 48 locations, and the number grew to 64 by 2022,” the journal stated. It also stated that cinemas have been hanging on by raising prices at a wild rate, causing audiences to think through their decisions more intently than before. Adding that nine other films grossed over N5 million in cinemas in 2023. They are ‘Malaika’, ‘Ada Omo Daddy’, ‘Orisa’, ‘Merry Men 3’, ‘Kesari’, ‘Something Like Gold’, ‘The Kujus Again’, ‘Afamefuna’ and ‘A Weekend To Forget’.

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