Top 5 Grossing Nollywood Movies of 2019
2019 was definitely one of the best years in Nollywood history. Despite the slow beginnings, the Box Office picked up with the release of “The Bling Lagosians” in June and the last two months of the year pushed the numbers incredibly and 2019 became one of Nollywood’s best performing years.
It is really amazing to see that Nigerian movies are making incredible waves across Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world indeed. Even though Nollywood has been popular across the world for years, new movies coming out are increasingly popular and increasing in quality as well and people are more willing to spend premium ticket price on Nollywood movies.
From our findings, Nigerian movies are also one of the most internationally featured movies on Netflix as of today and this is testimony to the incredible work that Nigerian movie producers are doing in more recent years.
It’s like a renaissance that started since around 2016 when Nigerians began to take more advantage of media tech to scale. Since then, it’s been an influx of new moviemakers who are willing to throw in more money and bring in more expertise to do truly well thought out, globally competitive-type movies.
Of note also must be the incursion of Ebony Life Studios, Ebony Life Studios movies feature twice on this list (Bling Lagosians and Your Excellency). ELS also hold 5 places in the top 10 grossing Nollywood movies of all time- including first to fourth positions (The Wedding Party 1 and 2, Chief Daddy and King of Boys). Immense work is going Into moviemaking in recent years and immense money is being made as well as evidenced by our findings which you will see on the list below and 2019 did not disappoint in progressing the Nollywood Renaissance story.
Below is our compilation of the highest grossing Nollywood movies of 2019 and also updated figures to give you a full view. Check it out and tell us what you think in the comments section.
1. Living in Bondage: Breaking Free
Opening Date- November 8, 2019
As at December 31, 2019- 157 million
Presently- 163.45 million
Produced by- Charles Okpaleke
Directed by- Ramsey Noah
2. Merry Men 2
Opening Date- December 20, 2019
As at December 31, 2019- 128 million
Presently- 227. 83 million
Produced by- Ayo Makun (AY)
Directed by- Toka Mcbaror
3. Bling Lagosians
Opening Date- June 16, 2019
As at December 31, 2019- 120 million
Presently- 120.1 million
Produced by- Ebony Life Films
Directed by- Bolanle Austen-Peters
4. Your Excellency
Opening Date- December 13, 2019
As at December 31, 2019- 105.5 million
Presently- 179.85 million
Produced by- Ebony Life Films
Directed by- Funke Akindele-Bello
5. Sugar Rush
Opening Date- December 25, 2019
As at December 31, 2019- 58.76 million
Presently- 230 million
Produced by- Jade
Directed by- Kayode Kasum
So there’s it, our 2019 list and updated numbers as well. As seen in our compilation, 4 of the top grossing movies opened in the cinemas in the last 2 months of 2019 and the spill over has brought a strong momentum into 2020. Here’s to even better movies and figures in Nollywood in 2020! 🥂
Sources
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_Nigerian_films
