Nigeria’s box office records 15% revenue dip in July — despite increased viewers

The Nigerian box office suffered a 15% decline in revenue last month, despite an increase in cinema attendance.

Speaking with NAN, Opeyemi Ajayi, the chairperson of the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN), said N482 million was generated as revenue across all cinemas in July.

Ajayi also disclosed that the total viewer admission in cinemas across the federation within the month under review was 218,395.

The CEAN chairman said cinemas experienced a slight increase in patronage in July due to the numerous public holidays in the month.

He encouraged more Nigerians to consider visiting the cinemas during their leisure to unwind.

“We recorded a total sales of N482,528,117 for July with 218,395 viewers in the cinemas,” he said.

“The cinemas are not doing bad but we encourage more Nigerians to cultivate the habit of visiting the cinemas.”

The top movie selections for August in Nigerian cinemas include ‘Akuddaya’, ‘Meg 2’, ‘Teenage Mutant Minja’, ‘A Bag of Trouble’, ‘Blue Beetle’, ‘Mikolo’, ‘The Modern Woman’, ‘Retribution’, and ‘Kesari’.

The figure generated in July is lower than the N567 million realised in June.

The N482 million raked in from the box office last month is a 14.98% decrease when compared to that of June.

In contrast, the total viewer admission in cinemas (218,395) in July was 3.85% higher than in June (210,299).

Nigerian cinemas struggled with hardships earlier in the year — owing to naira scarcity, which significantly impacted financial stability.

In January, revenue peaked at N819 million, plummeting to N278 million by February.

Consecutive months mirrored this trend, with May’s earnings trailing April by N52 million.