Filmmaker and Actress, Funke Akindele has broken her own record with a new record sale of N1 billion in ticket sales for a Nollywood movie.
This surpasses her previous films ‘Battle on Buka Street’ (N668.4 million), and ‘Omo Ghetto: The saga’ (N636.1 million) which now currently sits as the second and third highest grossing film in the Nigerian box office respectively.
Every week since its release on 15 December 2023, ‘A Tribe Called Judah’ has broken a record: the biggest weekend opening in Nollywood; the largest opening for a female director ever; the highest grossing Nollywood film ever. It has now become the first Nollywood film to reach the N1 billion mark domestically according to reports.
The movie has already grossed N1 billion nationwide in 3 weeks and will soon surpass Black Panther; Wakanda forever which barely crossed the billion naira mark after 16 weeks at the box office.
With a box office earnings of N400 million within just 12 days, the movie set a new standard in the industry. Notably, it secured the record for the biggest weekend opening in Nollywood, amassing over N122 million at the box office.
The movie also became the 4th movie in the history of Nigerian cinemas to gross over N376 million in their first two weeks; Wakanda Forever (2022): N499.6 million, SpiderMan: No Way Home (2021): N475.7 million, Avengers: Endgame (2019): N407 million.
In 2020 her film ‘Omo Ghetto: The Saga’ raked a whooping N636.1 million setting a new record for the highest grossing movie during that period. Not long after in 2022, the release of her next film ‘Battle on Buka Street’ a comedy drama film saw her break her own record as the movie earned N668.4 making her one of two filmmakers to reach and surpass the N1 billion gross at the box office and the only one to do it with just two movies.
Akindele has been lauded for her effective marketing skills as the key to her movie’s success at the cinema by captivating audiences with compelling trailers, strategic social media campaigns, and promotional materials.