Nollywood, as the film industry in that country is commonly called, turns out more than 2500 movies annually and is only behind Hollywood as the biggest producer of movies in the world.
The importance of the cinema in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, could already be seen coming three years ago when The Wedding Party, a romantic comedy directed by Kemi Adetiba, earned 1.5 million dollars, a record for a Nigerian film.
The success of this comedy lead to the filming of a sequel, The Wedding Party II. The financial returns of this far surpassed those of the first part and called the attention of Netflix, which acquired the two films for broadcast from their platform.
On another front, the French group Vivendi Canal Plus has also decided to invest in this industry and, in 2019, acquired Iroko TV, the biggest internet and entertainment company in Nigeria, where it broadcasts television dramas to all the world.
Today the film industry employs at least one million workers and is an essential part of the entertainment sector, which according to data from the international consultant PwC, contributed 2.3% (660 million dollars) to the gross domestic product (GDP) of Nigeria. For this year PwC foresees an increase in the earnings of this industry to one billion dollars, all from exports.
At a time when Nigeria is experiencing a deep recession due to the falling price of oil, the country´s main export, the success of the film industry here is viewed by the government as excellent news.
Source: Navarra’s Newsletter