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.
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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.
Publisher/Editor, NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series.
