Nigerians spent over 6, 976, 882, 087 billion naira to watch films in the cinemas in 2019.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the figures are according to data provided by cinemas and gathered by the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN).
The year opened with ‘Aquaman’, ‘Chief Daddy’ and ‘Up North’ sitting on the top three of the chart, with estimated combined earnings of 168, 263, 512 million Naira.
Earnings remained low for February, making it the lowest-grossing month with a total of N291.8 million.
By March, viewership picked up steadily and the earnings were almost doubled from that of February leading to a total of 434, 432, 431 million Naira.
NAN reports that earnings from April climbed from 186, 929, 188 million Naira in its third week to 342, 382, 389 million Naira in its final week.’
The month closed with estimated total earnings of 734, 151, 060 million Naira 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 367, 498, 554 million Naira.
June opened with 161, 132, 714 million Naira but closed with 100, 663, 647 million Naira leading to a total earning of 576, 322, 779 million Naira.
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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 N37.4million.
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 five.
NAN reports that cumulatively, the cinemas earned over three billion naira in the first half of 2019 and over 1.2 billion naira in July and August of the same year.
In September, ‘Angel Has Fallen’ topped the box office with a gross of 40, 434, 564 million naira. It was followed by ‘Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw’ and Nollywood film, ‘The Millions’ which debuted at number three, raking in N10, 046, 476.
‘Angel Has Fallen’ remained on top for the second week with ‘Hustlers debuting at number one at the third week.
By the end of the month, cinema earnings had dropped by 13 percent with ‘Rambo: Last Blood’ at number one.
In October, ‘Love is War’ started strong with 14, 228, 280 million naira 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 second week of October with the cinema gross totalling to 83, 703, 650 million naira that week.
By the third week, ‘Gemini Man’ pushed ‘Joker’ to second place and Nollywood’s ‘Elevator Baby’ debuted at number three.
NAN reports that at the final week, the top four films were ‘Maleficent’, ‘Black and Blue’, ‘Gemini Man’ and ‘Joker’ in that order with ‘Elevator Baby’ at number six. The total gross was 88, 063, 047 million naira.
November opened with ‘Terminator: The Dark Fate’ on top raking in 37, 267, 747 million naira. ‘Maleficent’, now in its third week, earned 18, 459, 252 million naira in second place.
Nollywood was at sixth place with ‘Elevator Baby’ which made 4, 298, 150 million naira and ‘Living in Bondage: Breaking Free’ debuted in its first weekend at number seven.
In the second week, ‘Living in Bondage’ sat on top in its first full week and made 48, 692, 825 million naira pushing ‘Terminator’ to second place. ‘Elevator Baby’ dropped to number eight and the week closed at 114, 331, 989 million naira.
‘Living in Bondage’ continued its winning streak and suffered only seven per cent decrease but was pushed to second place by the end of the month by ’21 Bridges’. ‘The Ghost and the House of Truth’ debuted at seventh place.
December opened with ‘Living in Bondage’ redeeming its number one spot, followed by ’21 Bridges’ and ‘Frozen 2’. The total gross for the week was 85, 863, 384 million naira which was a 100 per cent increase.
By the third week, there was another 44 per cent increase with ‘Jumanji’ debuting and making 58, 131, 872 million naira and ‘Your Excellency’ grossed 36, 652, 637 million naira.
The last week saw a 110 percent increase with ‘Merry Men 2’ pulling in 94, 241, 491 million naira in its first week. ‘Sugar Rush’ debuted and made 92, 585, 385 million naira.
For the last quarter of 2019, cinemas made 326, 503, 084 million, in September, 342, 795, 751 million naira in October, 960, 234, 641 million naira in November and 1, 023, 321, 652 billion naira in December.
