How Funke Akindele, AY, Five Others Earned N3.23bn From Nollywood

The creation of Nollywood started in the 1960s. It was when the first Nollywood movies were being created by historical filmmakers such as Ola Balogun, Hubert Ogunde, Jab Adu, Moses Olayia and Eddie Ugboma.

They are considered the first generation of Nigerian filmmakers. Since then, the Nigerian movie industry has recorded tremendous progress making it to be among the biggest movie industry globally.

While the early entrant in the industry didn’t make huge fortunes during their time, the situation is now different going by the earnings of movie producers. In the last three years, Nollywood Directors and producers have earned huge sums of money as a result of the creativity and the high standards of the production of their movies.

Analysis of the top highest grossing movies by THE WHISTLER showed that about N3.2bn has been earned by Nollywood Directors and Producers through the cinemas.

The amount exclude the gross total of revenues from special screenings, DVD sales, online streaming and theatrical screenings outside Nigeria.

Here is a breakdown of how the N3.2bn was earned by Nollywood producers and Directors.

• Omo Ghetto-The Saga:

This is a 2020 Nigerian gangster comedy film co-directed by Funke Akindele and JJC Skillz.

The movie which was released on 25th December 2020, was reported to be among the top 20 movies with the highest grossing amount of N583.3m.

Recall that in 2019, Funke Akindele directed a movie titled ” Your Excellency” which was released on 13th December 2019. The movie became the fourth highest grossing Nigerian film for the year 2019 with N186.34m

• The Wedding Party 1:

“The Wedding Party 1 is a 2016 Nigerian romantic comedy drama, and was directed by Kemi Adetiba.

The movie was released first on 8 September 2016 at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada. It was released in Nigeria on 26th November 2016 at Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos, and it became the highest grossing Nigerian movie of the decade with N453m

In 2017, following the release of ‘The Wedding Party 1,’ the sequel ‘The Wedding Party 2’ was released and was directed by Niyi Akinmolayan, grossing N433.19m.

• Chief Daddy:

This movie was directed by Niyi Akinmolayan, on 14 December 2018, It was released in Nigeria and in the Netherlands on March 15 2019 through Netflix.

On the day the movie was premiered at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos, over 40 Nollywood stars were in attendance. So far the movie has grossed up to N387.54m.

• Sugar Rush:

Sugar Rush is a 2019 Nollywood crime action movie, where sisters accidentally discovered a bag of money worth $800,000. The discovery of the money had given them the impression that the end of their poverty was in sight but this was not to be because of the involvement of the security agencies.

The movie had it’s theatrical release on 25th December 2019 and became the fourth highest grossing Nigerian film at that time. It generated N287.05m.

• King Of Boys:

“King of boys” is the second movie directed by Kemi Adetiba following the release of “The Wedding Party”.

The movie is a 2018 Nigerian crime political film, that tells the story of a businesswoman and a philanthropist with a political future. This led to her struggle for power and in turn made her to start threatening people around her as a result of her political ambition.

King Of Boys was released on October 20, 2018, and have been listed among the top 50 films in west Africa. According to Nigeria box office, the movie has grossed N244.7m domestically.

• Merry Men:

This movie also known as the ‘Real Yoruba Demons’ was released on 28th September 2018.

The movie is based on the story of four men that seduce powerful women, while scheming to get what they want. These men steals from the well profiled ladies to help the poor. The movie was listed as one of the top 50 released of all time in west Africa, with highest box-office of N235.62m

When the sequel “Merry Men 2” was released on February 20, 2020, it grossed N233.95m

• A Trip To Jamaica

This was released on 25 September, 2016 and was directed by Robert Peters. The movie is based on a story about the adventure of newly engaged couple to their relatives residence outside Nigeria.

However, the movie was a huge box office success, breaking the record set by 30 Days in Atlanta for the highest-grossing Nigerian film.

Domestically “A Trip To Jamaica” made N180.26m