Malika: Warrior Queen Makes First Big Screen Debut At Lagos ComiCon

Nigeria’s animated movie – Malika: Warrior Queen, made its first big screen debut over the weekend to critical acclaim at the 8th edition of the Lagos Comic Convention.

After much anticipation, the new trailer which featured Top Nollywood stars like Femi Branch, Adesua Etomi-Wellington, and Blossom Chukwujekwu amongst others was produced in ten months.

The 15mins animation was produced in ten months on a budget of 60,000 US dollars at the Anthill Studios, a Nigerian-based visual media production company in Lagos.

Malika series started as comic books in 2016 and writer/producer Roy Okupe was inspired to adapt the book to the screen, after seeing its growing popularity.

Set in fifteenth-century West Africa, the 15 minute movie follows the exploits of queen and military commander, Malika, who struggles to keep the peace in her ever-expanding empire.

Roy Okupe is hoping that the debut of Malika can encourage and inspire Nigeria’s Nollywood, the world’s second-largest film industry to invest in local animators to make animated movies.

Okupe who is also the CEO and founder of YouNeek Studios, a US-based media company that focuses on stories that are inspired by African culture and mythology, says he sees no reason why animation cannot be the next frontier for Nollywood.

By Kehinde Oderinde