With the growing interest in nollywood films in the country, cinemas houses in Nigeria are witnessing an increase in patronage with a weekly visit of 70,000 film lovers.
The movie industry according to atqnews.com, generated about 7 billion naira at cinemas nationwide in 2019.
The National Video National Film And Video Censors Board (NVFCB), which is the Federal Government agency responsible for classifying and approving the release of movies, further stated that this was evidence that the entertainment sector was growing.
According to statistics by Filmone entertainment, an independent entertainment company focused on the distribution and production of film contents, within and outside the Nigerian, on average, cinemas in the country get 70,000 visitors weekly and only 20,000 on a good week watch Nollywood films. It said cinema patronage could drop to 4,000 visitors on a very bad week, adding that even in Nollywood peak periods, audiences pick foreign films till they fizzle out before settling for Nollywood films.
According to statistics, Nollywood movies recorded high patronage more than foreign movies in January and December, with a monthly visit of 331,790 and 405, 167 respectively compared to 310,381 and 334,692 of foreign movies.
In February, patronage for foreign films in Nigerian cinemas exceeded Nollywood movies with a monthly visit of 180,407 to 62,811.
Also, in the months of March and April, foreign movies maintained high patronage than Nigerian films with record visits of 302,325 and 180,381 respectively to 61,225 and 62, 809 visitors.
The highest visit for foreign films in cinemas was recorded in May with 458, 222 patronage as against 77, 944 Nollywood films.
In the months of June to November 2019, foreign movies maintained a monthly visit of over 200, 000 as while Nollywood films had above 100, 000 patronage.
