Stanley Chibunna

Nollywood: Intense ‘Competition’ For Cinema Movie Production As Film Industry Strives To Become Like Afrobeat

As the third-largest film industry in the world in terms of the number of films produced annually, Nollywood is striving to achieve global recognition similar to the meteoric rise of Afrobeats. The movie industry has undergone significant transformations since the early 1990s when filmmakers began producing low-budget movies that resonated deeply with Nigerian audiences. Movies like Living in Bondage (1992), a two-part drama directed by Chris Obi Rapu, written by Kenneth Nnebue and Okechukwu Ogunjiofor, produced by Ogunjiofor, and Glamour Girls (1994) became huge successes, paving the way for the industry’s growth. Over the years, Nollywood has evolved, embracing higher production values and more diverse narratives, capturing the attention of global audiences and streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon.