The Largest Market For Yoruba Epic Movie, "Orisa" is in Brazil and Not in Nigeria

The Largest Market For Yoruba Epic Movie, "Orisa" is in Brazil and Not in Nigeria

The Yoruba epic movies, "Orisa" and "Jagun Jagun", are the biggest Nollywood movies so far in 2023.

These epic movies can attract more people beyond Nigeria. But 

the producers don't know how to promote them globally. 

They are fixated on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video and the  cinemas in Nigeria. But the largest audiences for them are outside Nigeria. 

Over 10 million Afro Latinos in the Americas with Yoruba lineage have enough disposable incomes to watch the movies in cinemas and on cable TV channels.

In Brazil alone, millions of people will rush to watch "Orisa". 

The producers have to see the Big Picture in international film distribution and exhibition.

FilmOne Entertainment has tried with the theatrical release of "Orisa" in the United States of America, showing at selected Regal theaters. But we must see the Big Picture of the future of Nollywood in the world and the future begins today and is in our hands.

The Africans in the Diaspora have a population of over 350 million people and as a country will be the third largest in population in the world after China and India.

Countries with significant populations of Africans in the Diaspora:

United States

46,936,733

Brazil

14,517,961

Haiti

8,583,759

Colombia

4,671,160

Jamaica

2,700,000

Venezuela

2,641,481

Mexico

1,386,556

Canada

1,300,540

Ecuador

1,200,000

Cuba

1,034,044

Dominican Republic

1,029,535

Africans in the Diaspora remit more than USD 65 billion to Africa annually, more than the total foreign aid by the IMF and other international organizations to the continent in the last five years.

Why is Brazil the Largest Market For "Orisa" and "Jagun Jagun"?

There are over 14 million Africans in the Diaspora in Brazil and majority of them are traditional devotees and those who are fully informed on the widespread Yoruba Orisa religion and culture since the transatlantic slave trade to date. 

They have popular annual Orisa festivities attracting millions of Brazilians and thousands of tourists from other countries.

Their history is common public knowledge.

The film industry of Brazil is bigger than the film industry of Nigeria having millions of moviegoers with GDP per capita of $8,918 USD in 2022, a 15.86% increase from 2021. 

The GDP per capita in Nigeria was $2,448 in 2022 and with the removal of fuel subsidy in 2023, it has decreased and shown in the decreasing box office revenues, because majority of the moviegoers cannot afford to pay for the tickets again

.

The Film Industry in Brazil - 

At the end of 2022, there were around 3.4 thousand movie theater screens in Brazil, up from over 3.2 thousand a year earlier – an annual increase of four percent. 

The number of movie tickets sold in Brazil increased by 81.7 percent between 2021 and 2022.21 Mar 2023

https://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/film-industry-in-brazil

With 3.4 thousand screens in Brazil compared to less than 300 screens in Nigeria, the larger market of moviegoers is Brazil.

Film distributors in Nigeria should  promote "Orisa" and "Jagun Jagun" through the international film festivals in Brazil and contact the film distributors in Brazil at the 2023 annual American Film Market (AFM) coming up from October 31 – November 5, in Santa Monica Beach Hotel, Santa Monica, CA, USA.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

The Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series

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Why "Boycott" Was Not the Highest Grossing Nigerian Movie in March

Why "Boycott" Was Not the Highest Grossing Nigerian Movie in March

I expected "Boycott" to become a box office hit when it was released last month, but it bombed! Why?

This outstanding drama on the insurgency ravaging northern Nigeria was produced and directed by Standfame Ajalaja Stanley, starring the Alpha Males of Nollywood, Richard Mofe Damijo (RMD), Kunle Coker and Yemi Blaq with Lovelyn Christian, Uzee Usman, Tolulope Asanu and other actors.

"Boycott" was not the highest grossing Nigerian movie in March, because the film distribution was not given to FilmOne Entertainment that belongs to the same owners of Filmhouse Cinemas, the largest cinema chain in West Africa with 54 screens so far. It was given to Blue Pictures that has only one cinema in Lagos. Therefore, "Boycott" was only shown in 34 locations according to the weekly box office report of the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN). If it was distributed by FilmOne, it would have been shown in all their cinemas and also in other cinemas of the members of CEAN to maximize the box office and would have been the highest grossing movie.

The highest grossing NIgerian movie in April is "King Of Thieves" (Agesinkole) of popular actor and filmmaker, Femi Adebayo. The Yoruba epic is a coproduction of Niyi Akinmolayan‘s Anthill Studios and Femi Adebayo‘s Euphoria 360 and co-directed by Adebayo Tijani and Tope Adebayo Salami. It is distributed by FilmOne and showing in 55 locations.

The highest grossing Nigerian movies are those given more showtimes than other movies and not based on meritocracy. But based on economies of scale determined by FilmOne and Filmhouse Cinemas and partners for their mutual benefit. So, if they don't give movies distributed by others enough cinemas, the movies cannot compete with their own movies at the box office.

An upcoming distribution company contacted me and said the politics of CEAN rules above the ethics of equity in the Nigerian film industry. But I said that it's all economics of marketing.  The recurrent expenditures with increasing overhead costs in a country without regular power supply makes having cinemas a capital-intensive business.  I was at a small cinema with two screens in two small halls and I was wondering how the owners will make ends meet with only 50 seats. 

What is the solution?

There is an urgency for more cinemas in Nigeria, because of increasing demand by moviegoers with the increasing population of the country with the fastest growing middle class in sub-Saharan Africa. 

0.4 cinema screens to 100,000 people is very small for millions of movie lovers in Nigeria and the present locations of the few movie theatres are not the most appropriate in terms of demographics, because more thousands of people drive for miles to get to the nearest movie theatres, because they don’t have any cinema in their local government areas. 

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor, NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series.

The American King Easter Weekend Giveaway Promotion at the Magnificent Cinemas in Lagos, Havana Cinemas in Owerri, Imo State, Platinum Cinemas in Kano and Exodus Cinemas in Makurdi, Benue State