Nigerians Spend Over N3bn Watching Movies In First Half Of 2019 — CEAN

KEHINDE ODERINDE

The business of promoting big screen and transforming the movie going experience in of cinema patronizers in Nigeria is growing by the day. This is according to Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria’s (CEAN) report that Nigerians spent nearly N3,124,026,959bn to watch box office movies at the cinemas between January and June, 2019.

CEAN, the body vested to be the authorized representative of all cinema owners and operators in Nigeria further reports that the figures were according to the data provided by cinemas and gathered by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The year 2019 opened with “Aquaman”, “Chief Daddy” and “Up North” sitting on the top three of the chart with estimated combined earnings of N168,263,512m. The movies maintained their positions until the fourth week when “Glass” debuted at number one with “Aquaman” taking second place and “Chief Daddy”, third booting “Up North” to fourth place. This led to combined earnings of N91,409,100m which fell to N77,259,811m as January closed with Kevin Hart’s “The Upside” kicking “Chief Daddy” to fourth place.

NAN reports that earnings remained low for February, making it the lowest grossing month with a total of N291,843,044m. Top spots were alternated between “Alita”, “Cold Pursuit”, “What Men Want”, “Escape Room” and “The Upside”. By March, viewership picked up steadily and the earnings were almost doubled from leading to a total of N434,432,431m. “What Men Want”, “Alita”, “Hire A Woman”, “She Is”, “Us” and “Babymamas” enjoyed a relatively good run in March but a chunk of the earnings and viewership went to Marvel’s flick “Captain Marvel”.

At the beginning of April, “HellBoy”, “Shazam”, “Little” and “Us” continued to share the top spot with “Captain Marvel” until the release of the much anticipated “Avengers:Endgame”. NAN also reports that with “Avengers: Endgame”, earnings from April climbed from N186,929,188m in its third week to N342,382,389m in its final week. Leaving the month of April with a big boost to end with an estimated total earning of N734,151,060m.

In May, there was a massive dip in earnings leaving the total at N367,498,554m. The numbers picked up in June with “John Wick”, “Godzilla” and “Aladdin” leading the numbers. They were supported by “Anna”, “Men in Black”, “Dark Phoenix” and “Bling Lagosians”. June closed with a total of N576,322,779m.

However in the face of ever-growing viewing and distribution offerings available to film consumers in Nigeria today, CEAN endeavours to assist exhibitors in continually delivering unparalleled movie-going experiences to audiences everywhere, shining the spotlight on the excitement and communal effect of going to the movies and seeing movies on the big screen.