Nollywood

Nollywood, the Nigerian filmmaking industry and the second largest global film industry in terms of output, after that of India (see Bollywood). The term Nollywood, a portmanteau of “Nigeria” and “Hollywood,” can encompass Nigerian films made outside Nigeria as well as English-language Ghanaian films. It also includes films in Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, and other languages of Nigeria. The industry produces about 2,500 films per year, but because pirating films is commonplace in Nigeria its annual revenue, about $600 million in the mid-2010s, amounts to a mere fraction of that of Hollywood, which produces between 300 and 900 films per year.

The word “Nollywood” first appeared in a headline in The New York Times in 2002. Some in Nollywood are proud of the name, feeling that it recognizes the maturity of Nigeria’s film industry. However, others have argued that as a moniker coined by an American newspaper, it is colonial and does not acknowledge the industry’s organic achievements.

Celluloid era (1960s–80s): early Nigerian cinema

Nigerian cinema first developed independently of foreign filmmakers after the country gained its independence in 1960. These early movies, shot on celluloid, drew on the storytelling style of the Yoruba traveling theater tradition. The acting used ritualized and stylized gestures, and the plots were highly dramatized, touching on matters of religion, witchcraft, and the supernatural. Filmmakers including Ola Balogun, Adeyemi Afolayan, Francis Oladele, Hubert Ogunde, and Eddie Ugbomah pioneered these early productions. Demand for film increased in the 1970s as the economy boomed and movie theaters popped up across cities. However, in the 1980s the devaluation of the Nigerian naira made film equipment hard to come by, and movie theaters became increasingly inaccessible. By the early 1990s the production of celluloid films ceased.

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VHS era (1990s–2000s): advent of Nollywood

The Nollywood period began in 1992 with the advent of videotapes and video home systems (VHS), most notably through the production of Living in Bondage. The movie was directed by Chris Obi Rapu and starred Kenneth Okonkwo and Nnenna Nwabueze. Its plot concerns a down-on-his-luck businessman who sacrifices his wife to a satanic cult to become wealthy. The movie was distributed straight to VHS and soon became a smash hit. This distribution model revolutionized Nigerian cinema.

About the mid-2000s, however, multiple issues with the Nollywood model were becoming more apparent. Films were still largely low-budget affairs, most working with $25,000 or less. These sums were acquired through small loans from private investors or from the director’s own pocket. Higher budgets could sometimes be obtained with foreign financing, but this limited the autonomy of the African filmmakers. Furthermore, the financial struggle of making a movie almost never paid off. Pirating was widespread; in the early 2010s it was estimated that there were 5 to 10 bootleg copies of films on the market for every legitimate one. Studios were turning out four to five movies per day, oversaturating the market and further diluting profits for filmmakers.

Digital era (2010s– ): “New Nollywood” after 2009

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These problems sparked a new model in Nollywood filmmaking, frequently dubbed “New Nollywood,” taken up by directors such as Kunle Afolayan, Kemi Adetiba, and Tunde Kelani to improve the quality of Nigerian cinema. By the 2010s there was a renewed interest in fresh, creative plots with well-written dialogue, as well as in procuring better equipment to improve the visual quality of movies. Afolayan’s 2009 film The Figurine was shot with a budget of about $330,000, which was high for Nollywood. The script took five years to develop and shooting took three months—a rarity in Nollywood, with most films being shot in about a week. The Figurine received international attention, and critics lauded the quality of plot, performance, and production. The distribution strategy for these higher budget films relied on theatrical releases to raise revenue before releasing the film on DVD. Releasing films on DVD first had made them easier to pirate.

Though funding is often still a difficult and lengthy process for Nollywood productions, support from the Nigerian government in recent years has helped improve cinematography. In March 2023 Pres. Muhammadu Buhari signed a new copyright bill aimed at cracking down on piracy and protecting intellectual property rights in the digital space. The advent of streaming services has also helped stymie pirates, although some filmmakers claim that they are not sufficiently paid by these platforms.

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Nevertheless, streaming has made Nollywood movies much more accessible in Africa and beyond. In the 2000s thousands of Nigerian and Ghanaian films were streamed internationally through a channel on YouTube. In 2011 the channel launched its own streaming platform, iROKOtv, and began developing content of its own. Netflix also began licensing many Nollywood movies in 2015 and began creating content in Nollywood in 2020. Nollywood films have become staples of satellite and cable television channels across Africa, dubbed into various local languages. Nollywood TV, a satellite television channel associated with CANAL+, offers versions dubbed into French for Francophone African countries. The proliferation of Nigerian film festivals, such as the Africa International Film Festival, has helped increase global visibility of Nollywood.

Today megastars such as Ramsey Nouah, Genevieve Nnaji, and Ade Otukoya influence popular culture and fashion across Africa. Many across the continent appreciate that the industry’s success enables African filmmakers to create high-quality movies for African audiences on their own terms, without catering to Western sensibilities. As Nigerian cinema becomes more in demand, production quality continues to grow.