Nollywood & The Wakanda Effect

In the last update of NBS (National Bureau of Statistics) on Nollywood released in 2021, the number of movies produced in Q2 of 2021 was 635 against the 416 made in Q1 of 2021, an outstanding 53.93% quarter on quarter growth. 

Compared to the previous year, 626 movies were produced in Q2 of 2020 which was a slight 1.44% YOY growth.

Lagos reportedly had the most number of movies produced in Q2 of 2021 with 234, Abuja trailing behind with 196.

However, the executive director of NFCVB (National Film & Video Censors Board) revealed 541 & 553 movies were released in the Q1 & Q2 respectively of 2022. 

Nollywood has been in recovery ever since the pandemic halted movie productions, ticketing and other events around movies. 

BusinessDay reported the the following 1st quarter earnings (box office) for each year since 2019:

2019: ₦1.39 Billion

2020: ₦1.4 Billion 

2021: ₦840 Million 

2022: ₦1.26 Billion 

Without doubt, the Nigerian movie market has been having some resurgence in some areas, the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN) revealed Nigerians spent ₦914 Million on movies in November 2022, alone - with a staggering 65% from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. 

However, Hollywood's "The Woman King" & "Brotherhood" has so far recorded ₦461.9 Million in cumulative revenue over 15 weeks & ₦328.8 Million over 14 weeks respectively (2022).

Both movies are ranked in the top 10 highest grossing Nigerian movies of all-time (Nigerian Cinemas). 

In the 1st half of 2021, 1.491 Million tickets were sold, Nollywood movies clinched 964.5K, in the 1st half of 2022, 1.498 Million tickets were sold, Nollywood movies took a hold of 520.6K which signifies a 46% decrease over the previous year.

General admissions has also had some sort of standstill over the period of 3 years — a little below 1.5 Million tickets were sold in the first halves of 2020, 2021 & 2022 respectively. 

Nollywood has seen a 25.8% decline in the total market cinema market share of the Nigerian movie industry, in the first half of 2022, compared to 39.3% in H1, 2021.

Surprisingly, the 2022 drop is an all time low despite Nollywood's fantastic streak over the past 5 years, YOY, Nollywood had 40% of the total Nigerian movie industry, while Hollywood holds a large share of the remaining 60%.

Nollywood movies might be grossing high revenues even with 2022 as one of the best years, in Nigerian Cinemas, but it is yet to catch up with in its own industry — Black Panther: Wakanda Forever recorded a whopping ₦844.1 Million cumulative revenue in 7 weeks.