Nigerians spent about N6.97 bn to watch films in the cinemas across the country in 2019. This is according to data provided by cinemas and gathered by the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN), NAN reports.
The year opened with ‘Aquaman’, ‘Chief Daddy’ and ‘Up North’ sitting on the top three of the chart, with estimated combined earnings of N168,263,512m. Earnings remained low for February, making it the lowest grossing month with a total of N291.8m. By March, viewership picked up steadily and the earnings were almost doubled from that of February leading to a total of N434,432,431m.
Earnings from April climbed from N186,929,188m in its third week to N342,382,389m in its final week. The month closed with estimated total earnings of N734,151,060m due to a major boost from Disney’s ‘Endgame’. In May, there was a massive dip in earnings similar to that experienced in February. With ‘Endgame’, ‘The Intruder’ and ‘Longshot’, it earned a total of N367,498,554m.
June opened with N161,132,714m but closed with N100,663,647m, leading to a total earning of N576,322,779m.
In July, the highest-grossing film for the period was ‘Bling Lagosians’. The film grossed the highest income in cinemas in June. In the first week of July, the movie earned N37.4m. For the last weekend in August, ‘Bling Lagosians’ settled at number 20 with ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ struggling at number 19. ‘The Set Up’ had dropped to number 5.
Cumulatively, the cinemas earned over N3bn in the first half of 2019 and over N1.2 bn in July and August of the year.
In September, ‘Angel Has Fallen’ topped the box office with a gross of N40,434,564m. It was followed by ‘Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw’ and Nollywood film, ‘The Millions’ which debuted at number 3, raking in N10,046,476m. ‘Angel Has Fallen’ remained on top for the 2nd week with ‘Hustlers’ debuting at number one for the 3rd week. By the end of the month, cinema earnings had dropped by 13% with ‘Rambo: Last Blood’ at number one.
In October, ‘Love is War’ started strong with N14,228,280m in its first week. ‘Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw’ sank to bottom in its 10th week. The same was the case for ‘The Lion King’ which was in its 12th week. However, ‘Joker’ snagged the number one spot by the 2nd week of October grossing N83,703,650m that week.
By the 3rd week, ‘Gemini Man’ pushed ‘Joker’ to 2nd place and Nollywood’s ‘Elevator Baby’ debuted at number 3. By the final week, the top 4 films were ‘Maleficent’, ‘Black and Blue’, ‘Gemini Man’ and ‘Joker’ in that order with ‘Elevator Baby’ at number 6. Total gross was N88, 063, 047m.
November opened with ‘Terminator: The Dark Fate’ on top raking in N37,267,747m. ‘Maleficent’, now in its 3rd week, earned N18,459,252m in 2nd place. Nollywood was in 6th place with ‘Elevator Baby’ which made N4,298,150m and ‘Living in Bondage: Breaking Free’ debuted in its first weekend at number 7.
In the 2nd week, ‘Living in Bondage’ sat on top in its first full week and made N48,692,825m, pushing ‘Terminator’ to 2nd place. ‘Elevator Baby’ dropped to number 8 and the week closed at N114,331,989m. ‘Living in Bondage’ continued its winning streak and suffered only 7% decrease but was pushed to 2nd place by the end of the month by ’21 Bridges’. ‘The Ghost and the House of Truth’ debuted at 7th place.
December opened with ‘Living in Bondage’ redeeming its number one spot, followed by ’21 Bridges’ and ‘Frozen 2’. Total gross for the week was N85,863,384m which was a 100% increase. By the 3rd week, there was another 44% increase with ‘Jumanji’ debuting and making N58,131,872m and ‘Your Excellency’ grossed N36,652,637m.
The last week saw a 110% increase with ‘Merry Men 2’ pulling in N94,241,491m in its first week. ‘Sugar Rush’ debuted and made N92,585,385m. For the last quarter of 2019, cinemas made N326, 503, 084 million in September, N342, 795, 751 million in October, N960, 234, 641 million in November and N1, 023, 321, 652 billion in December.
NAN
