Two weeks ago, we told you that three Nollywood movies made the top five of that week’s highest-grossing movies at the box office, according to data from the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN).
Among those three movies is Brotherhood, an action-packed story which showed how two brothers can be on two totally different paths in life, representing contrasting figures in society and the end, have an ending that might not be anticipated.
4 weeks after its release, the movie has continued to draw Nigerians to the cinemas. According to data from the weekend, the movie came close to being number one at the box office in Nigeria, grossing a total of N30,535,037 compared to Hollywood’s The Woman King’s N31,652,490 despite being a global blockbuster.
The cumulative revenue of the movie so far is N209,461,296, with an average revenue per location of about N500,574. The movie continually remains in 61 locations in cinemas around the country.
This brings to mind the question: can Nollywood movies gross more than Hollywood movies if they can muster up deeper storylines and better image qualities?
Read also: Nollywood regains dominance in the cinemas in October: ‘Brotherhood’, ‘Anikulapo’ makes top 3
Other figures from the Box Office
Apart from Woman King which has occupied the top position for 5 weeks straight since its release, the list of the top five grossing movies of the weekend is made up of Nollywood’s Passport and Gbege as well as Ticket to Paradise, a Hollywood movie.
Passport was part of the top 3 movies some weeks ago It has been a part of the top 5 grossing movies at the box office for over a month. The movie has been in the cinemas for a total of 7 weeks since its release and has made a cumulative revenue of N84,104,025.
The star-studded movie featured Mercy Johnson, Zubby Michael, and Jim Iyke. It grossed a total of N1, 866,550 over the past weekend in 25 cinemas nationwide. That amounts to an average of N74,662 per location.
Similarly, Gbege, a movie portraying how laws can be rivals to established cultures, completed the list of the top 5 with total revenue of about N6,019,600 just after two weeks after its release.
The movie which is directed by Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen, grossed over N1.6m this weekend with an average grossing per location (21 cinemas) of N77,031. The movie is also a testament that Nigerians love contents curated around culture and powerplay.
Read also: “Brotherhood” is Nollywood’s best attempt at an action film… with a poor dose of dialogue
Can Nollywood sustain its dominance?
It seems Nigerians are beginning to fall in love with locally curated content if the data from Box Office these past few weeks is anything to go by. However, a critical look at the movies grossing the highest shows a mixture of culture, comedy and action.
Well, I am not saying that romance is not gaining relevance anymore. Much of Nollywood’s romance stories dwelt on the characters that portray instances that might not totally give a “bigger picture or meanings” in relation to relatable cultures and social powerplay. A watch of My Village People and Namaste Wahala will help illustrate this idea.
A change in the pattern may improve the numbers from that vertical.
Going forward, Nollywood can consolidate on these numbers by curating contents and visuals that richly dwell on culture amidst sophistication and modernisation. Still, a greater visual quality has been the major challenge of the industry, and if that is solved, then Nollywood might just maintain their dominance locally.
That is purely my take, though.
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