Akindele’s film took home more than 14 percent of the total revenue, making it the first Nollywood production to reach the $1 billion mark in box office receipts.
According to a recent assessment, Nigerian cinemas made over 7.2 billion naira from over 2.6 million admissions in 2023, with Nollywood averaging a 39% market share.
According to reports the earnings are over 416 million naira more than in 2022 with a 7% year-on-year increase in market share.
The journal noted that the revenue growth mostly hinged on increased ticket prices, is not happening at the same pace as admissions growth, which is still significantly low. Despite the success of ‘A Tribe Called Judah’, Akindele’s previous film, Omo Ghetto: The Saga (2020) currently holds the record for the most admissions recorded for a Nollywood film at 449,901.
“If released in the same period as A Tribe Called Judah, with an average ticket price at ₦3,700, it’d have made over ₦1.6bn which raises the question of ticket prices and actual cinema habit growth, despite yearly increase in gross revenues. Ticket prices are at ₦7,000 in most cinemas in city centres.
“In a similar context, the first Black Panther movie, released in 2018, had over 200,000 admissions more than Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
“The latter went on to break the record for the first film to gross one billion naira in West Africa, a feat aided by increased ticket prices and more screening locations.
“The former grossed over 800 million naira at the time. In 2018, there were 48 locations, the number grew to 64 by 2022,” the journal stated.
Reports states that nine other films grossed over 50 million naira in the cinemas in 2023. They are Malaika, Ada Omo Daddy, Orisa, Merry Men 3, Kesari, Something Like Gold, The Kujus Again, Afamefuna and A Weekend To Forget.
