Over 440,000 People Spent a Total of N551.9 Million in Nigerian Cinemas in January

Nigerian moviegoers began the year with a spark. Despite “Detty December” being over, Nigerian cinemas still saw massive patronage from Nigerians in January. According to the box office stats released by the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN), Nigerian moviegoers spent a total of N551.9 million (551,996,781‬) in theatres all over the country.

This shows Nigerians spent almost 60% of what they spent in cinemas for December in January 2020. And while it’s a steep drop from the N1 billion spent in December, it is still an impressive run considering the fact that January is popularly believed to be a month of bill payments.

It also indicates a 19.7% YoY increase from the same period in 2019.

Also, the data provided shows that Nigerian cinemas all over the country admitted 442,173‬ movie watchers in January.

What’s more impressive is the fact that Nigerians happened to have watched less of foreign movies in January, with a significant amount of the cinema revenue going to Nollywood movies. This happens to be the trend with January, as a similar occurrence happened in January 2019.

And this could be associated to the fact that only very few blockbuster Hollywood movies are released between December-January, allowing for Nollywood movie makers to use that period to get traction.

Nollywood movies like Sugar Rush, Merry Men 2: Another Mission, and Your Excellency appeared in the top 5 highest grossing movies for most of January.

Hollywood movies like Bad Boys For Life, Jumanji: The Next Level, The Informer, Spies in Disguise and Frozen 2 also made giant strides in the month.

As expected, the highest grossing week in the month came in the first full week of the year. Between January 3 and 9, Nigerians spent N181.9 million at the cinemas, a figure that dropped to N93.8 million by the 2nd week.

Interestingly the last 2 full weeks in the month also had impressive grosses, as the 3rd week saw Nigerian cinemas make N113.7 million by the 3rd week in January and N103.2 million by the 4th.

Moving ahead, February, popularly known as the month of love looks promising, although a quick check of history shows that it might not be so. Nevertheless, records from the first weekend in February shows that N60.1 million was spent at the movies. And if for nothing, notable events like the Valentines Day, might most likely see the month’s grossing soar.