Funke Akindele is not called the queen of the box office for no reason.
Funke Akindele’s new film, A Tribe Called Judah, is officially Nollywood’s first to gross ₦113 million in its opening weekend after it started screening in cinemas on December 15, 2023.
Inclusive of advanced screenings before the official opening day release, the drama, distributed by FilmOne Entertainment, grossed a total of ₦122.7 million.
The record-breaking film follows a band of brothers who must dabble in a life of crime to save their mother’s life, a tale so gripping it attracted a total of 34,996 cinema admissions, inclusive of the advanced screenings.
If the pattern holds, A Tribe Called Judah‘s big opening splash sets it on good course to eclipse Battle on Buka Street, also Akindele’s film, as Nollywood’s highest-grossing film, currently ₦668.4 million.
This could potentially leave Akindele filling the top three slots for Nollywood’s highest grossing films as her Omo Ghetto: The Saga currently sits in second position with a total gross of ₦636.1 million.
Ada Omo Daddy leads the chasing pack
Trailing behind A Tribe Called Judah in the weekend chart released by the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN) was another anticipated Nollywood film that released on the same day, Ada Omo Daddy.
The Mercy Aigbe film, the actress’ first major cinema film production, grossed ₦27.6 million over the weekend and ₦30.5 million overall, with a total of 9,311 cinema admissions.
In distant third was another December 15 debutant, Wonka, a Hollywood production that grossed ₦6.7 million, just ahead of the MCU’s struggling The Marvels which grossed only ₦4.1 million, totalling ₦132 million in six weeks.
Closing the top five was Kayode Kasum‘s critically-acclaimed indigenous film, Afamefuna, which grossed ₦3.8 million during the weekend, totalling ₦42.9 million after three weeks.
