Is Nollywood Really Booming?
The sociocultural phenomenon of the guerilla filmmakers of Nollywood, the first indie film industry in Africa has been attracting global attention making news headlines of the foreign news media since the early 1990s and making the stars of the low budget movies household names across Africa. "Nollywood is booming" echoed from the street to the internet and on the popular cable TV channels called Africa Magic on DStv and GOtv of the MultiChoice Group of South Africa.
According to a widely circulated report since 2020:
Nigeria’s film industry contributed 2.3% and about 239 billion naira ($660 million) to the GDP and projects that the industry will increase its export revenue earnings to over $1 billion. The motion picture and music recording industry exceeded 2020 projected $806 million revenue contributing about 730 billion naira ($1.8 billion) to the country’s GDP.
The country’s television and video market grew by 7.49% to $806 million in 2020, up from $732 million in 2018. The industry is projected to earn about $900 million in 2023. The market is driven by subscription revenue, which accounted for 72.26% of total revenue in 2018. TV advertising accounts for 21.31% of total revenue.
With other similar reports; to the foreign news media, Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry is booming with references to the success stories of DStv, GOtv and Showmax of the MultiChoice Group; the increasing numbers of cinemas with all the highest grossing Nollywood movies in the box office making millions of dollars annually since 2016; the exciting attractions of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other OTT platforms with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. But the fact is; Nollywood is not among the 10 biggest film industries in the world by box office revenues, TV budgets and revenues.
Nollywood no longer produces the often reported over 2, 000 movies annually used to rank it as the second largest film industry in the world after Bollywood of India and ahead of Hollywood of America. Since the COVID-19 pandemic with the consequences of the lockdowns and restrictions of physical contact with others at work, productions of movies and TV series have reduced in Nigeria.
Nollywood is not the biggest film industry in Africa.
South Africa has the biggest film industry on the continent with the biggest and largest film distributors and exhibitors; including the popular Durban Film Mart, Cape Town International Film Market and Festival and MIP Africa. The biggest GSM telecom network in Nigeria is MTN from South Africa used by the majority of Nigerians for data to use the internet and the MultiChoice Group of South Africa is the biggest and largest cable TV network in Nigeria.
The local private and public TV stations in Nigeria cannot compete with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and other broadcasting services of South Africa in the entertainment industry.
The reports that Nigeria has the biggest film industry in Africa are false.
Nollywood is booming continues to be echoing and repeated in the news reports, but the realities are different inside Nigeria.
Behind the showtimes of the cinemas in the big shopping malls of Lagos and other states; behind the glitz and razzmatazz of the red carpets of the premieres of movies and international film festivals in Nollywood; majority of the filmmakers with their casts and crews are struggling and suffering to make ends meet. Majority of them cannot afford brand new cars or SUVs and cannot afford to build or buy houses.
Dozens of practitioners suffered and passed on in Nollywood last year 2022, but only the famous ones made news whilst the unknown ones passed away unsung. Many of them could not pay their medical bills.
Many of those who survived the critical financial challenges only survived by divine interventions of Almighty God through various means, including the kindness of several "Good Samaritans" who gave them helping hands to rescue them from their misery.
I had a catalog of movies, TV series and documentaries of the best quality, but all the TV channels in Nigeria could not afford to pay for the TV rights as low as US$750 per movie or episode for two years. They cannot even afford to produce content of premium quality and the employees are underpaid.
There is no single film and TV market in Nigeria and no film commission, except the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) without a film commissioner.
The NFC does not know that there should be a film commission in every state in the country, including Abuja.
Nollywood is far from booming, because even the fortunate ones among the filmmakers who produced the highest grossing movies and series acquired by Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Showmax and other major foreign film acquisition and distribution companies have not become multimillionaires in dollars like their counterparts in Hollywood.
None of the highest grossing Nollywood movies made up to US$2 million.
The Hollywood blockbuster "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" has become the first film to make N1 Billion from the box office in Nigeria and one billion naira is less than US$2 million by the current exchange rate of the dollar to the naira of $1 for N730. $1m is about N730 million.
A movie in a booming film industry by global valuation should be making millions of dollars within three weeks and not struggling to make two million dollars within three months of the theatrical release. Nigeria does not have up to 300 screens and the population of the country is over 200 million, the largest in Africa. Exhibitors spend millions of dollars annually on recurrent expenditures of the cinemas in a country without regular power supply for electricity and they have to use big industrial generators with daily supply of diesel or petrol. There are days a cinema will not have up to 20 moviegoers and the generator will be used for power supply for screenings without interruptions.
I don't envy the exhibitors and investors.
Uber is making more money in Nigeria than all the members of the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN).
It is better, richer and safer to invest in an urban taxi transport service in the country than to invest in having cinemas in Nigeria. And guess what? An Urban taxi cabs service can still make money from Nollywood without sweat. How?
Nollywood creates thousands of jobs, but over 90 percent of these jobs are not permanent, because the jobs end once the production of a movie ends. Many of the actors have to fast and pray to get new roles in the next productions. Majority of the actors, cameramen, camerawomen, gaffers and others are among the lowest paid employees in Nigeria. Their incomes cannot make ends meet for them and their dependants without any social welfare and without any insurance policy.
Nollywood is still a developing film industry with multiple streams of incomes. But the lack of structure is hampering the economic growth.
Movie merchandise and film tourism are still unexplored sectors of Nollywood which can be avenues to create permanent jobs for many people and increase the revenues from the film industry.
- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
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NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series
First book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry available in paperback and hardcover versions.
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