Drama beats comedy as leading film genre in Nollywood by 45% – Report

Drama became the leading genre in Nollywood in 2023, with 45.5 per cent of the top 44 Nollywood films released in the box office.

According to a report by film insights publication, In Nollywood in its journal, The Industry, the best-performing films were determined by a ₦50m gross and above in the cinemas and a top ten rank for more than a week and high audience social interaction for films that had exclusive streaming debuts.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports drama beat comedy as more filmmakers and audiences leaned into the genre countering the trend in previous years.

It also showed that inspite of the heavy popularity of projects in the epic genre, it only accounts for 6.8 per cent while both crime and action thrillers account for 25 per cent combined.

The cultural epic, also called the “traditional film”, is a thriving Nigerian genre that is characterised by old Nigerian traditional setting, costume and manner of speaking.

Although drama led the box office grosses ahead of comedy for the most parts of 2023, it lost the earnings race to comedy due to the record breaking feat of Funke Akindele’s `A Tribe Called Judah.’

There were only five major comedy projects in the top 40 throughout the year with a total gross of ₦194.69million before Akindele’s project made its way to the cinemas, according to the report.

NAN reports that Akindele’s film has become the first Nollywood film to hit one billion naira in the cinemas.

The one billion mark was only ever achieved by Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. (NAN)