Despite the pandemic. Nigeria’s entertainment industry is making money. It is time to give it more! Read More
Charles Okpaleke and his production company Play Network Studios have been in the fast business of remaking old Nollywood material. With femme fatale horror Nneka the Pretty Serpent out in cinemas next week, and Glamour Girls still on the burner, nothing is stopping the filmmaker from unearthing more old Nollywood catalogue for new audiences. And... Read More
Editor’s note: In an incredibly difficult year defined by the coronavirus pandemic, the Nigerian film industry entered a new paradigm with global streaming giant Netflix to tell our stories to the world. Stories shape thoughts, perceptions, inform, and in a year that also saw nationwide protests to end police violence, it was a reminder that... Read More
With coronavirus still much around, we are never going back to the time when it was completely safe to watch movies in cinemas. At least not for now. To say that cinemas in Nigeria were shuttered due to the pandemic would be an understatement. Box office revenue took a hit, cinema economy comprising of low-level... Read More
At the end of the Living in Bondage sequel premiere last year, the audience erupted in an applause in a packed Lagos cinema. Lights came on, and in minutes revealed celebrities shuffling in goth glam and imperious horrorcore outfits (think Dracula, but a little more DIY-looking). Themes have become a mainstay in Nollywood movie premieres,... Read More
Each week here at YNaija, we round up the best Nigerian writing on the internet, highlighting the stories, profiles, interviews and in-depth reporting that rise above the daily churn. Here are the ones that caught our attention: These two Nigerian filmmakers are making movies you can’t put in a box – Conrad Omodiagbe In 2014, Obasi’s... Read More
While we await the release of Ìfé the Movie, a cinema feat that has garnered massive anticipation in and out of the shores of Nigeria, let’s look back on some movies that have told the stories of LGBT Africans both real and fictional. The themes of the movies are universal – people trying to find... Read More
Nigeria for the longest time has battled with the idea of inclusion. In almost any industry, there is an imbalance in female representation, raising issues of inclusion. Thankfully we are witnessing a shift in this paradigm across certain industries, no one more prevalent than the Nigerian movie industry; Nollywood. Funke Akindele remains a prime example... Read More
The Nigerian Film Industry, Nollywood, as it is fondly called, is one of the largest in the world with an estimated annual production of 2700 movies. Ranked third just behind Hollywood and Bollywood, the industry appears to have been underrated for a while, following the mass production of low budget movies which are even underrated... Read More
First it was the Met Gala, and now the Oscars have finally woken up to the realities of Covid-19 and made necessary adjustments. The Academy has announced that it is extending its annual calendar to accommodate a future where there is no discernible vaccine or widely available treatment for the Coronavirus pandemic. The new schedule... Read More
Editor’s note: Please note that this piece has been updated with a footnote, following new developments on the allegations. It’s 2020, and we are stuck with the same old story you know. The one where the big name brand rips the little guy off because there is no one to fight for them. Except that... Read More
More Nollywood titles are coming to Netflix this May, from The Delivery Boy to Anchor Baby and Light in the Dark. The reason for this explosion of Nollywood content on Netflix could be the coronavirus pandemic, as more people are at home during this time and are turning to streaming platforms. Which Nollywood movie would... Read More
Earlier this year, Plan B, the Nigerian/Kenyan collaboration helmed by two female film makers Lola Adelek of LowlaDee studios Sara Hassan of Kenyan production company Alfajiri Productions, was nominated for and won best East African film at the 2020 African Magic Viewers Choice Awards. This win was unprecedented, because Lowladee productions premiered Plan B as an exclusive... Read More
The allure of remaking any piece of art is to be allowed the chance to view it from wholly refreshing lenses and be able to contribute to the art’s importance or fail to redefine what was known of it. In the Nigerian movie industry, there are only a few completely great movies that don’t fail... Read More
Old Nollywood movies have found a second life as shorthand for virtual interactions across social media platforms. First generation Nigerian immigrants who moved to the UK and the US were the first to make old Nollywood popular, using micro clips on the now defunct vine as fodder for viral-ready social commentary. Their work would spread... Read More
If you scored a thousand Naira for every time the f… word was uttered in Heaven’s Hell, the long gestating debut feature length by former reality television star, Katung Aduwak, the end of the film should fetch you a tidy sum. It is the go-to curse word for the self-absorbed upper-class folks who people the... Read More
It is hard to recall considering today’s fragmented media space but there was a time when Wale Adenuga Productions was at the center of mainstream Nigerian entertainment. With influential titles like Ikebe Super, Papa Ajasco and company and This Life, the studio has been responsible for pushing out prime content across various media platforms since... Read More
It was a whirlwind of movie trailers during the week. Case in point: Pixar’s new animation film Onward, which imagines Chris Pratt and Tom Holland as elf brothers. A new horror feature from A24 about a killer dress – In Fabric. And The Kitchen, a crime thriller film starring Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elizabeth... Read More
In an interesting development, the French movie industry (I’m tempted to say Follywood) has signed a mutual agreement with Nollywood, which will help in movie distribution between Nigeria and France. The French movie industry is known as the Cinema of France and according to Pulse, the agreement gives both industry representatives from both countries to... Read More
This year’s Cannes Film Festival will be huge for African films, in that African filmmakers, artists, distributors and key stakeholders in the industry will have the opportunity to showcase contents and unique potential, made possible by Pavillon Afriques. In that spirit, Joke Silva will be joining industry professionals for the festival but specifically as a panelist... Read More
At the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), Nigeria’s biggest and most important film festival, held in Lagos from 12-17th November 2018, the closing film was not a hit. Directed by Faraday Okoro, 31, a young Nigerian American based in the United States of America, Nigerian Prince is the end product of a pitch presented at... Read More
On Christmas day, Jordan Peele released the trailer for Us, a post-Get Out horror film that drove the internet into creating memes, gifs, and opinion pieces crushed into Twitter’s 280-word limit. More than that, the trailer release is brilliant marketing in a time where families and friends are together and sequestered away from the maddening... Read More
Mike Ezuruonye’s sophomore movie as a director/producer Lagos Real Fake Life opened in cinemas last month, and while I bemoaned the movie’s overpopulation of star actors and a storyline hamstrung by sloppy acting, fans of Ezuruonye came out to watch the actor’s latest comedy. I know this because I saw him behind the ticket counter... Read More
Amir is The Delivery Boy. Amir is a terrorist on a mission. After existing as a pawn for most of his young life, he has embarked on his most meaningful journey yet. One that is worth living – or dying for. It doesn’t matter, as long as his objective is achieved. Amir has been trained... Read More
Kemi Adetiba’s King of Boys is a coming of age film and a departure from the mundane theme of comedy prevalent in Nigeria’s movie space. King of Boys is a movie of grit, dialogue and character, laced with auteur brilliance intent on making a strong statement in Nollywood. The movie begins with a party scene... Read More
In a recent interview with TheCable Lifestyle, Kunle Afolayan discussed his upcoming movie Mokalik, which will feature singer Simi in her acting debut and targeted at winning an Oscar, and the reasons for enrolling his nine-year-old son at a mechanic workshop. In all of it, he kind of threw a shade at Nollywood when asked... Read More
One of the issues that has plagued Nollywood, aside the lack of funds and government support, is actors falling into illnesses and terminal medical conditions, only for them to pass away without any care or support from within the industry. Last year, the Secretary-General of the AGN under Ibinabo Fiberesima came out to respond to... Read More
Follow the links to read the stories and analyses on YNaija: “Seven and a Half Dates” reportedly makes 10 million naira in three days, but when will Nollywood stop lying?
If we’re being factually accurate, then Nigeria’s first contact with film was in 1903 when Herbert Macaulay invited Balboa and Company who was then doing an exhibition tour of silent films on the West African Coast to Nigeria. The films were shown at the Glover Memorial Hall, Lagos in August of that year. The success of... Read More
Till date, the best pop-up channel experience I’ve had as a DStv subscriber is the one dedicated to Marvel movies. As someone who watches a lot of television, I find pop-up channels very consuming and bingeable, as long as it’s serving what I want. But having a Nollywood pop-up channel on DStv, unveiled by MultiChoice... Read More
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