Nollywood Takes Over Hollywood, Celebrates Feat

L-R: Ose Oyamendan (2nd L), Kemi Adetiba, and Banky W

(By Oluwagbemiga Asuelimen) - The Weekend Nollywood took over Hollywood

          When you live in Los Angeles, you often feel you have seen everything. You have most likely gone through an earthquake or two. You have seen men become women and women become men. You have seen stars rise and fall. You have eaten food you can not even pronounce. You have been on a roller coaster through life and, sometimes, you do not know what is real and what is make belief.

Last week, the city saw what it had not seen before, not in this light. Nigeria was in town.

“We’re gonna rock this town the way it’s not been rocked in a long time,” beamed Nigerian-American filmmaker Ose Oyamendan as he strolled in his Ankara shirt under the mild afternoon sun into a meeting with the big wigs at The Egyptian Theatre on Tuesday afternoon.

A few hours later, the online version of the prestigious Los Angeles Times spilled the beans on the unsuspecting city when it announced, “Watch Out Hollywood, Nollywood is coming to town”. This is the closest you get to a cultural coup. Nigeria, long bashed in the media for scandals, corruption and fraud, was getting a public rebranding, thanks to the Nollywood In Hollywood event.

          The headline lit up social media. Kemi Adetiba, the queen of Nigeria’s box office whose film, KING OF BOYS, was selected for screening posted a blurb of the newspaper headline on her Instagram page with a simple line, “Hey mommy… Hey daddy… Guess who just got featured in the @latimes”. Good news must travel fast. Within an hour, the news had been viewed or shared over a million times on social media. It would expand to over ten million in the next few days.

The Women Driving Nollywood in 2019

(By Daniel Okechukwu) - These Are the Women Pushing Nollywood to Greater Heights in 2019

From Mo Abudu to Ema Edosio, these women are transforming Nollywood for the better.

          Women have had a place in Nollywood since its inception, but that was mostly in front of the camera. Behind the scenes, things have historically been governed by men: they produce and direct the biggest films and generally dictate the market for Nigerian film.

          In 2019, the era of overwhelming male dominance is over, thanks to a new type of female mogul personified best by Mo Abudu. Since the release of her first film Fifty in in 2015 she has ruled the Nigerian box office. Three films she executive produced—The Wedding Party 1, The Wedding Party: Destination Dubai and Chief Daddy—sit atop the list of highest grossing Nigerian movies of all time. The original Wedding Party grossed ₦453 million, its sequel did ₦500 million, and her latest Chief Daddy made over ₦300 million in three weeks. 

          Four of the films produced by her film company EbonyLife are among the top 10 highest grossing Nollywood films. Mo Abudu's success has ushered in a new trend of women making boss moves in Africa's biggest film industry.

King of Boys: A Compelling Lagos Story

(By Obianuju Okafor) - King of Boys had a lot to live up to from day one of its announcement. Kemi Adetiba’s previous feature film project was the successful Wedding Party film. That particular project had been a collaborative win with EbonyLife Films tag teaming other major production houses – FilmOne Distribution, Inkblot Productions and Koga studios – and all of them together trusting the project to the hands of the director who had, for the most part, cut her teeth directing music videos. She delivered then, and it’s easy to say that with King of Boys she has performed an even greater feat.

An effective trailer built anticipation for King of Boys, and the gangster royalty themed premiere managed to also heighten conversations about what was to be expected. All this background is necessary to point out the tall expectations that followed King of Boys, and why it is amazing that it did not disappoint. There is a common Nigerian parlance used in discussing films that have been well marketed and therefore well talked about prior to a bulk of people actually seeing it. It is this concept of over-hyping, where people who watch a movie after an explosion of compliments for it condition their enjoyment by claiming that it is merely ‘okay’ and unable to live up to the particular tall order or hype that had so far followed it.