Nigeria’s cinema most expensive in the world –Film entrepreneur

The Chief Executive at Doodle-Film Hub Ltd, Yinka Ade-Aluko, says the company research findings have revealed that cinema in Nigeria is the most expensive in the world, because it is not affordable and not accessible by average Nigerians.
Ade-Aluko, who is also a creative and film entrepreneur disclosed this on Sunday in an interview with the News men in Abuja.

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“It would really interest you to know, that our research analysis and results established that cinema in Nigeria is the most expensive in the world – It’s not affordable and not accessible by average Nigerians.
“With monthly N30,000 minimum wage, a movie ticket costs two days earnings of an average Nigerian, that is totally unacceptable!
“In Hollywood and Bollywood that Nollywood claims to move along with in the world of movies, cinema tickets only cost around an hour of their respective daily wages.
“These are possible because both industries were patterned to their peculiarities as to their countries’ economies and its people; their industries and its sub-sectors as well as their markets and market-place.”
According to him, Nigeria equally has the population, even with the most and largest youthful fraction worldwide, and Nigerians are entertainment lovers blessed with lots of talents, no doubt about that.
“So, one would wonder how and why Nollywood’s highest grossed movie of all time has less than 0.5 per cent of our 200 million plus population and less than 1 per cent of market size/potential.
“That means just around 300,000 people who went to see our highest grossed movie ever – The Battle On Buka Street by Funke Akindele – to me, it’s ridiculous.
“This is because Hollywood and Bollywood’s highest grossed movies attracted around 35 per cent of their respective populations.
“And, the answer to this anomaly is simple! The majority of movie-lovers and potential cinema-goers in Nigeria who are majorly youths and students could not afford going to the cinema.”
According to the doodle film executive, “this is one of the problems we set out to solve with our business idea apart from youths’ unemployment.”
“Is it not ridiculous, that Nollywood has a cinema and major movie releases does not break even?
“A cinema that only attracts 300,000 of a 70 million market size of the industry. A cinema that treats filmmakers unfairly and rewards actors unkindly. A cinema where productions’ budgets are high-priced and movie tickets are overpriced.
“A cinema that focuses on the elites/middle-class and ignores the larger market who are majorly youths. A cinema that does not appreciate new/raw ideas and talents and denies young and skilled filmmakers’ entries into the mainstream. These, to us, are unacceptable”
Ade-Aluko said that doodle-Film Hub Ltd was established to re-direct, re-pattern and re-position Nollywood Cinema by mapping-out the larger market to decentralise domesticate and democratise the cinema.
“We’re about doing with cinema, what Henry Ford did more than a 100 years ago with automobile and Bill Gates did about 50 years ago with computers, by introducing a mass production and mass consumption model of cinema through mass mobilization of the youth.
“I must say, great things are about to happen in the Nigeria film industry, because we’re launching Nollywood largest and biggest investment intervention ever,” he added.

NAN