The Nollywood and Nigerian entertainment industry as a whole is a place of cutthroat competition and a cauldron of oversized egos. In an industry where public validation is the currency of success, controversies will always be the norm and controversy is the fuel that keeps the Nollywood fire burning. A cheeky retort, a harmless reference or an innocuous empirical statement of fact could trigger frenzied debate on social media and pit two actors against one another. Last week, in a hall filled with smartly dressed, suave, debonair, and cosmopolitan professionals, ranging from celebrities, producers, actors, journalists, and captains of industry, a statement was made that will spark a fresh controversy about the reality of Nigeria’s cinema culture and the vaunted box office success of certain movies. The statement will also see the long-standing cold war between two of the industry’s most successful actors, producers and directors morph into needless confrontation.
During his recent appearance at the Lagos Business of Film Summit, actor and filmmaker Kunle Afolayan gave a poignant and profoundly frank assessment of the inner workings of the marketing and business side of cinema as it relates to the profitability of movies. He said “I want to make a film if you can guarantee I don’t have to dance to sell. We need to develop alternative strategies. How do we sell without exhausting ourselves? I don’t know how the likes of Funke Akindele and others are doing it. Creating skits every day, changing costumes all the time. I can’t do it.”
He added that “There is no competition between us. I don’t just want N1 billion or N2 billion in the cinema that I won’t be able to personally receive N10 million from.” While many, particularly those outside the industry who have no inkling about what goes on in the inner recesses of the industry, see his statements as an honest and genuine revelation which gives them valuable insight into how the Nigerian filmmaking ecosystem operates, especially in the area of profit sharing, his colleague did not find his remarks funny. She sees his casual name-dropping and references to the widely publicised successes of her movies at the box office as a deliberate attempt to undermine her efforts and water down her success. The exasperated contemporary is Funke Akindele.
Afolayan’s remark came on the heels of the box office successes of Toyin Abraham and Funke Akindele’s movies. Nollywood has been euphoric and the fans of both actors have been in celebratory mood after Toyin Abraham’s Oversabi Aunty crossed one billion naira at the box office, officially sealing her place in the pantheon of Nigerian cinema heavyweights. Funke Akindele has repeatedly surpassed one billion and even two billion naira in gross revenue with films like Behind The Scenes.
Funke Akindele did not hold back in voicing her anger and disgust at Afolayan’s remark. In a feisty rebuttal on Saturday, Akindele attributed Afolayan’s statement to jealousy, stating that “I’m not the one hindering your progress”. Attributing Afolayan’s statement to jealousy amounts to oversimplification of the issue and kicking the can of unfair commercial cinema arrangement down the road. Afolayan did not denigrate his colleagues and their work; if anything, he praised them for the effort they put into making sure they achieve commercial success in the cinema.
While the enviable success of Akindele and Abraham at the box office may inspire many of their colleagues, the humongous number gleefully and widely advised as the testament of success may not tell the true story. This is what Afolayan wants the people to know. The headlines do not tell the full story. Afolayan wants us to know that gross ticket sales do not necessarily translate to private fortune; they are the spoils of theatrical adventure, disproportionately shared. They are a spreadsheet of invoices, debts, fees, and taxes that often leaves filmmakers with little after the hysteria of vaunted box office success cools off.
When it comes to the business of cinema and box office success, there is a tinge of secrecy regarding the heavily skewed nature of profit sharing as many stakeholders in the industry shy away from addressing the chasm between positive public perception and the personal reality of those in the thick of things. But as Afolayan’s statement gathered momentum on social media, netizens quietly coined a catchphrase that somewhat captures the essence of the debate: one billion in cinemas does not equal one billion in the pocket.
Afolayan is not a greenhorn in the business of filmmaking. He is one of those whose work not only changed the way movies are made but also brought something different, something special, something profoundly stimulating to the audience. He heralded a new era in cinematography. He flipped the script in casting and reinvented the wheel in directing. Movies like figurine, phone swap and October 1st set the pace, influence and shape how movies will be made in the years that follow their release. He is an arbiter on filmmaking and everything Nollywood. He has undoubtedly earned the authority to take a position and make judgments on what is happening in the industry, especially as it relates to unfair and unpleasant practices among stakeholders.
He is not the first person to point out the exceedingly unequal and disturbingly lopsided sharing arrangements of whatever accrue to stakeholders from a movie shown in a cinema. Other influential and leading figures in the industry, like Shaffy Bello and Mo Abudu, have also echoed the sentiment of Afolayan. Femi Adebayo, to screen and distribute his latest movie, Ageshinkole, shunned the established and conventional cinemas, he bypassed the invidious profit-sharing formula of Nigerian cinema, and resorted to somewhat unorthodox and unconventional means of showing his movie to audiences. He adopted a community cinema to screen the movie. This way he has full control over everything around the cinematic and theatrical arrangement. From location selection, to logistics and revenue.
Akindele is a colossus in Nollywood. The story of the contemporary Nigerian movie industry will not be complete without honourable mention of her name. So visible is her impact, so broad is her appeal that her name has become synonymous with cinema success. She has consistently shown that her ability to achieve massive box office success is not a fluke. Her repeated commercial success and cultural power underscore her remarkable staying power
Her Behind The Scenes earned over two billion naira, making it the first Nigerian film to cross that threshold. Previous works like Everybody Loves Jenifa grossed nearly one point eight billion naira, and A Tribe Called Judah crossed the one billion naira threshold. Collectively, these films have earned over five billion naira at the Nigerian box office in recent years, a laudable feat that stressed her dominance in the industry.
These numbers, while staggering, reflect gross ticket sales and not net earnings. Cinemas, distributors, marketing costs, and taxes all take a share before producers can start calculating their returns. This distinction is often misunderstood in public discourse. When Akindele celebrates her box-office triumphs, it is a celebration of audience impact as much as commercial success. The films’ narratives resonate with audiences across demographics, combining humour, relatability, and star appeal.
Akindele’s reaction to the remarks of Afolayan may be justified but it does not detract from the credibility of his assertion. Afolayan comes as a realist who’s frank, blunt and forthright in his assessment of the business model of cinema operations in Nigeria which hands the short end of the stick to those who do the heavy lifting and bulk of the job in the creative and filmmaking value chain. His background in banking also made it easy for himto see the sharing arrangements for what they are early on: exploitative, unjust and unsustainable. Once the desire and passion for filmmaking are removed, it is hard for anyone not to become cynical about movie screenings in Nigerian cinemas.
Afolayan’s assertion is not a disparagement of Akindele, it is not to mock her work and style of awareness creation, it’s clearly not an attempt to turn her method of audience engagement and marketing to a thing of derision, if anything it is an extolment of her ingenuity, tenacity, doggedness, resourcefulness, and passion to consistently succeed in an environment that seeks to pull you down and deny you the fruit of your labour.
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