Nigeria’s box office rakes in N346.6m in March 2022 — 83.4% YoY growth

The Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN) says it generated N346.6 million from tickets sold across the country last month.

Patrick Lee, CEAN president, recently spoke with NAN on box office revenue generated in March 2022.

The quoted figure represents an 83.4 percent increase, compared to the N189 million CEAN realised in March 2021.

There was also a 15 percent increase in ticket sales for March 2022, compared to N301.48 million generated in February 2022.

Lee listed the highest-grossing films in Nigeria in the month of March as: ‘The Batman’, ‘Uncharted’, ‘The Contractor’, ‘A Simple Lie’, and ‘Turning Red’.

“For the month of March 2022, we have N346,607,688.00 ticket sales, this is quite encouraging compared to what we had in February, N301,480,148,” he stated.

“The Batman sold the highest number of tickets accounting for 39 percent of box office revenue for the month of March.

“Comparatively, 2022 has continued to record higher box office revenue than 2021, March shows a 45 percent improvement from 2021 performance and a 7 percent growth from February 2022.

“Of the 41 films shown in Nigeria cinemas in the month of March, Hollywood accounted for 75 percent of revenues despite having only 14 titles.”

The president added that the films to be out for the month of April are: ‘I’m Nazzy’, ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’, ‘Saint Mark’,’ Morbius’, ‘Bad Guys’, ‘King of Thieves’, and ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’.

He said others are: ‘The Blood Covenant’, ‘Twenty Nine’, ‘Ben from Downstairs’, ‘The Lost City’, ‘Rainy Day’, ‘The Man for the Job’, and ‘Memory and Downtown Abbey: A New Era and A Hunt for Joe’.

“As we say goodbye to the first quarter, we can’t wait to unravel the package for the second, beginning with a promising delivery of Marvel’s new superhero flick, ‘Morbius’,” Lee said.

“Its trailer suggests a blend of action, sci-fi, thriller, and horror. We are keen to see how moviegoers from our region would respond. Horrors have not realised the best figures at the Nigerian box office.”