Nollywood’s Box Office Numbers: Facts or Fabrication?

Ever wondered if Nollywood’s box office boom is just a big, fat cap? Are these numbers real or Nollywood’s greatest script? 

Imagine this: A Nollywood film drops on Friday, and by Monday morning, headlines scream “₦100 MILLION IN THREE DAYS!”. Social media is on fire, the producer is giving thanksgiving in church, and investors are sliding into DMs like, “Boss, how can I be part of this next billion-naira project?”

But hold up. Did anybody actually check if these numbers make sense?

Well, filmmaker C.J. “Fiery” Obasi did barely six days ago, and let’s just say, he’s not buying it.

C.J. Obasi calls out the “smoke and mirrors”

On a recent podcast with filmmaker, Desmond Ebuwa Ekunwe, Obasi raised a very uncomfortable but essential question:

Are Nollywood’s box office numbers real, or are they just creative storytelling?

“I don’t feel like we make honest cinema… There’s no real paperwork. Even when someone says 1 billion, like how? Where? Show me.”

He pointed out that, unlike in Hollywood, where you can track real-time box office earnings via platforms, in Nigeria, we rely on whatever numbers we’re told.

“There’s no public place where you can go access it as an individual, which is how it is in every other part of the world. So, what are we hiding? What are all these smoke and mirrors for?”

And that, my friends, is where things get juicy.

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X (formerly Twitter) was not asleep 

While we were all minding our business, X (formerly Twitter) users turned into forensic accountants overnight, trying to crack the code of Nollywood’s blockbuster earnings.

The conversation started with user @MealdredO (GlazedLens), who came in with the real-life equivalent of “Show your work.” 

“How many cinema screens do we have in Nigeria? What’s the average number of tickets that can be sold? What’s the ticket price? Now, how many people need to buy tickets for you to gross ₦100M in three days?”

A fair question, right?

Then @AON_dofa_ (Aondofa Shija) jumped in with some cold, hard numbers:

“There are roughly 290 – 310 cinema screens in Nigeria. The average ticket price is about ₦5,200 (though premium screens are much higher). To gross ₦100M in a weekend, you’d need to sell around 18,000 – 19,000 tickets.”

And for context, he added:

“Over 52,000 people visited the cinemas last weekend.”

Okay, so technically, it’s possible, but it would require some serious ticket sales across multiple films, not just one.

But @MealdredO wasn’t done. He asked:

“Cool! But how many films were showing? How many screenings did each film get per day? How many people do each of these screens sit?”

Basically, even if you have a potential audience, you still have to factor in competition, limited screening slots, and seat availability. It’s not just a case of “Nigerians love movies, so they’ll show up.”

Then @molarawood (Molara Wood) dropped the finishing move.

“These ridiculous figures seem plucked from thin air just to outdo the last person. No credible data. Just vibes. Only in Nigeria.”

Whew. Nollywood, y’all okay?

Then things got even wilder.

@MealdredO brought up a claim that a certain producer is telling investors they made $2 million from Nollywood YouTube films.

Now, YouTube revenue is real, and some filmmakers have turned their channels into money machines, but $2 million from Nollywood YouTube in one go? Without independent verification?

Well, according to @MealdredO, if a film claims to have grossed ₦100M in three days, then:

“It needs approximately 16 screens nationwide (or more if lower occupancy, fewer if higher).  Each of these screens needs to run about 5 shows per day. That means about 80 screenings per day (spread across available screens).”

Basically, unless your film is the only one playing on every screen in Nigeria, morning till night, those figures look suspiciously cinematic.

What’s Next? Transparency or more blockbuster numbers?

At the heart of all this drama is a simple request: TRANSPARENCY. If Nollywood wants to attract serious investors, there needs to be a public, independently verifiable way to track box office numbers. If not, then every “₦500M in 10 days” headline will always feel like PR hype instead of actual growth.

C.J. Obasi’s biggest concern isn’t even just about the numbers; it’s about trust.

“We already have PTSD from all the corruption we’ve dealt with over the years. And now, we finally have a booming industry, but we’re starting to see the same smoke and mirrors.”

And that’s the real issue.

Nollywood is growing, but if we keep inflating figures without accountability, we might just be selling the biggest fiction of all; and this time, it won’t be in cinemas.