Nigeria alone accounts for 92% of cinema screens in Anglophone West Africa

Key takeaways

  • Nigeria alone holds 89% of all cinema locations and 92% of all screens in the region.
  • Ghana is the second-largest market but has only seven locations and 18 screens, significantly trailing behind Nigeria.
  • Sierra Leone has four cinema locations and eight screens, while Liberia has just one location with two screens, highlighting the limited cinema infrastructure in both countries.
  • The overwhelming concentration of cinema infrastructure in Nigeria reflects its established film industry and audience demand.

Nigeria remains the dominant force in Anglophone West Africa’s cinema industry, accounting for 89% of all cinema locations and 92% of all screens in the region. With 102 out of 114 total cinema locations and 333 out of 361 screens, Nigeria towers over its neighbors. Ghana, the second-largest market, has only seven locations and 18 screens, while Sierra Leone and Liberia together have just five locations and 10 screens.
The overwhelming concentration of cinema infrastructure in Nigeria underscores its established film industry and audience demand, while other countries have yet to develop a sustainable exhibition market. This imbalance highlights Nigeria’s continued influence in shaping the region’s film economy.

Source:

The Nigerian Box Office Yearbook 2024

Period:

2024
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December 2024 saw the highest year-on-year increase in average movie ticket prices
  • December 2024 saw the biggest year-on-year increase in average movie ticket price since the 38.5% increase in 2021.
  • Cinema ticket prices in Nigeria have maintained an upward price trend since 2018, increasing by over 300%.
  • Since 2021, average ticket prices in December have maintained double-digit increases over 30% annually.
  • 2024's average ticket price was 17% below projections.

Lagos alone accounted for 53.6% of Nigeria’s 2024 box office revenue
  • Lagos led Nigeria’s box office with ₦5.8 billion in revenue, generating more revenue than all other regions combined.
  • The South-South emerged as the strongest market outside Lagos, contributing ₦2.1 billion, nearly 50% more than the South-West.
  • Abuja outperformed all three northern zones combined, earning ₦852 million, which is nearly four times their total revenue.
  • Cinema penetration in northern Nigeria remains weak, with the North-East contributing only ₦2.4 million—less than 0.05% of the national total, highlighting a significant gap in cinema infrastructure and audience engagement.

Filmhouse Cinemas earned the highest gross box office revenue in 2024
  •  The three largest cinema chains in Nigeria grossed over ₦7.6 billion naira combined in 2024 from Anglophone West Africa
  • EbonyLife Cinemas made the highest amount of any single cinema location
  • Filmhouse Cinemas has maintained the highest box office revenue for seven years
  • At ₦3.3 billion naira, Filmhouse's 2024 revenue is the highest ever recorded by a cinema chain in the region

Deadpool & Wolverine was the highest-grossing foreign movie at Nigerian cinemas in 2024
  • Four of 2024's top-grossing movies in Nigeria were not among the top 15 globally, showing a local preference for some movies.
  • The world's highest-grossing 2024 movie, Inside Out 2, underperformed in Nigeria
  • Movie franchises and sequels dominated the list, as only two movies were neither a sequel nor part of a franchise.
  • The top 15 foreign titles at the Nigerian box office grossed ₦3.95 billion, more than the top local title's ₦3.37 trillion.

A Nollywood movie has crossed the ₦1 billion mark for two consecutive years
  • The highest-grossing Nollywood movie has grown from a modest ₦30 million in 2009 to over ₦1 billion in 2023.
  • Since 2016, Nollywood's highest-grossing movie at the local box office has stayed above ₦250 million.
  • Four of Nollywood's highest-grossing movies in the past five years have been produced by Funke Akindele.

Everybody Loves Jenifa was the only movie to gross over ₦1 billion in 2024
  • Nigeria's box office is still dominated by foreign titles, with only four local titles in the top ten movies.
  • A local title, Everybody Loves Jenifa, was the highest-grossing movie, exceeding ₦1 billion.
  • The world's highest-grossing movie, Inside Out 2, did not make it to Nigeria's top ten movies.

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