Nollywood Movie Making

In the Beginning

From humble beginnings in the middle of the 20th century, the Nigerian movie industry (or Nollywood as it is often called) has come a long way. As would be expected, movie making in Africa in the 60s was no mean feat. Film making technology across the world was still in its early stages. If the equipment was difficult to setup in other parts of the world, in Nigeria, the equipment was virtually non-existent. Change started when the government of Nigeria begun to pressure local television and radio stations to broadcast more local content and less foreign productions. A direct result of this was the honing of local actors skills.

Times of Change

With a great deal of determination, Nollywood continued striving, and then’92 things started to change. One of the biggest influences was a movie called ‘Living in Bondage’ which went on to become the country’s first blockbuster. Not only was the movie successful in Nigeria, but it was also widely distributed internationally. Having tasted success, the country’s movie industry immediately started gaining momentum.

Present Day Nollywood Movie Industry

Nowadays, Nigerian movies have a phenomenal impact on the African movie producing industry. Not only are Nollywood movies popular in Nigeria, but they also have a huge following in countries such as Zambia, Kenya, and of course, South Africa. As the industry has continued growing, the quality and stature of the movies have also increased dramatically, and this in turn has resulted in many of the actors becoming unofficial ambassadors for their country. Considering that the average income for a Nigerian movie is estimated to be between $250 and $500 million dollars, there are several producers and actors who’ve become incredibly wealthy.

Formula for Success

Nigerian movies have nowadays got many things going for them, some of which have played a vital role in terms of their success. One of the biggest factors is the extremely low budget, in that many successful Nigerian movies cost more or less 50,000 U.S. dollars to produce. This is of course a far cry from the budget of most Hollywood movies, which very often end up costing millions of dollars to produce. The second biggest influence regarding the success of Nigeria’s movie industry is that they are able to produce a substantial number of movies each year. In fact, there is an estimated one to two thousand movies produced each year.

The theme and storyline is of course also responsible for the success of Nigerian movies. With the vast majority of movies having a theme which revolves around marriage, religion, traditions, and politics, Hollywood would find it difficult to compete, in that most Africans find it easier to relate to Nigerian movies.

Affordability and the Final Product

Finally, there is the cost of the final product. A Nigerian movie costs USD 2 on the continent. Compare that with the cost of at least USD 20 and sometimes up to USD 50 for an American movie on disk. With some Africa countries having less than 50 per cent of the country living on less than a dollar per day, the pool that can but the film at that price is small.

You can learn more about the Nollywood movie and film industry and watch top quality Nollywood movies and African films by visiting the African Side website.

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