The Story ⚡
Half of 2022 is gone.
What are the major films that have impacted the exhibition calendar so far and what are the important things you need to know about the exhibition industry as a film executive, investor or interested individual?
To answer the above questions, we combed the box office data from January 1st 2021 through July 2nd 2022.
Tell Me More
The strength of the 2022 box office ticket sales, so far is very much positive. The first half recorded as high as 13 peak weeks with revenue cume hitting above N100 million.
For Week 1, Spider-Man: No Way Home which raked in 119.70 million and Christmas in Miami which grossed 78 million that week jacked up the number for the week. The love that moviegoers showed for the two films did not fade away in the second week.
During the week of love (Week 7), new titles with themes around love and romance contributed in setting the figure above 100 million for that week. These titles include Uncharted (44.25 million), The Men We Love (12.07 million), Before Valentine’s (11.52 million), and Marry Me (9.16 million). Week 7 was the opening week for all of these love-themed flicks.
When The Batman debuted in Week 10, it made a ticket sale of 65.93 million, contributing the most to the week’s success.
The box office knew a new turn in Week 15 when Euphoria 360 and Anthill Studios debuted their epic title, King of Thieves. The films opened with a whopping sum of 69.23 million. The was an opening ground for the success that was ahead of it.
The week that followed that, being the Easter week, experienced another rise. 216.27 million was grossed that week.
In its first week in Week 19, Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness made a ticket sale of 171.46 million. This is the highest any title has made so far in its opening week in the year. The success of this Action/Adventure movie set it as the second highest earning week so far in 2022 after Week 1. The admiration it continues to receive from cinemagoers after its opening week kept the few weeks after it above the 100 million benchmarks.
5 Things That Stand Out
1 . The Jump of N100M weekly gross.
12 weeks out of 26 made more than N100 Million in ticket sales in 2022 (46.15%)
That is much better than 2021 which had only 3 weeks out of 26 and made more than N100 Million in ticket sales (11.53%)
2. Cume Hollywood
Hollywood is back for its market share! The tent pole title that hit the starved market went ahead to pull over N1 billion in ticket sales with just its top 5 films. of course, Marvel studio takes the lead with its Dr strange sequel opening with monster triple-digit 3-day ticket sales and closes the ranking with Morbius title that pulled in a cume of N126 Million.
Morbius
The superhero Marvel film, Morbius, ranks fifth. The movie starred Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, and Tyrese Gibson and it made a revenue cume of 126.07 million. It was co-produced by Avi Arad, Lucas Foster, and Matt Tolmach. Morbius grossed $163.9 million at the international box office.
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
This game-adapted IP is fourth on the leaderboard, after grossing 129.88 million. The film, which was directed by Jeff Fowler, made a sum of $306.8 million internationally.
The Batman
The third film on the chart is The Batman, an Action/Adventure title directed by Matt Reeves. Following its release on the 4th of March, 2022 in Nigeria, it grossed 162.80 million. The title stars Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, and others. It tells the story of Batman whose intervention was called for after the murder of the mayor of Gotham City. From his investigation, he discovers some corruption that is in connection with his past. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, the film made $770.8 million internationally.
Uncharted
With 170.01 million made, Unchartered takes the second position. Internationally, it makes a total ticket sales of $401.7 million.
Dr Strange 2
Marvel’s Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness ranks first with a sum of 425.65 million in ticket sales. It made $677.8 million internationally.
3. Cume Nollywood
The top 5 movies from Nigerian studios almost hit the N500M mark.
63.64% of this cume is a direct ticket sales deposit of “King of Theives” – The biggest hit of the year by all measures.
4. King of Thieves Blockbuster Hit
King of Thieves joined the N300 million club after hitting N301.88 million in its eighth week. This milestone was achieved in Week 22, the same week Top Gun: Maverick was released. For an indigenous title, this is a great feat.
However, the question is whether King of Thieves can hold the record as the highest-grossing Nollywood movie for the year 2022, especially as some great titles that are potential threats are being anticipated later in the year. Sequel titles like Sugar Rush 2 and Merry Men 3 have been rumored for release later this year.
Another strong potential is, Brotherhood, written by Jadesola Osiberu and Abdul Tijani-Ahmed and directed by Loukman Ali. Slated for a release on the 23rd of September the film features A-list actors like Basket Mouth, Falz, Sam Dede, Ronke Oshodi-Oke, Toni Tones, Tobi Bakre, OC Ukeje, Zubby Michael, Seyi Awolowo, Deyemi Okanlawon, and a host of others.
With these anticipated titles, does King of Thieves still be king? 2023 data will tell.
5. January Influx remains Juicy
The first week of the year continues to be a good time for exhibitors and producers who have products on showcase.
For 2022, Spider-Man: No Way Home which raked in 119.70 million and Christmas in Miami which grossed 78 million that week jacked up the number for the week. The love that moviegoers showed for the two films did not fade away in the second week as observed
For 2021, Omo Ghetto: The Saga, co-directed by Funke Akindele and JJC Skillz, which had an impressive reception added immensely to the week’s number and the week after it.
For 2020, the window opened with N181.09 million. Coupled with the expected December/January influx at the box office in the first week, titles like Sugar Rush and Merry Men 2: Another Mission, which was in their third week of exhibition, contributed to these figures.
For 2019, Notable titles contributing to the week’s figure include Warner Bros. Pictures’ Aquaman (which made 60.82 million in its third week), Chief Daddy directed by Niyi Akinmolayan (making 42.42 million in its fourth week), and Up North (which made 20.96 million in its second week).
6. Valentine’s Window Battle
The battle for Valentine’s week needs to jack up.
The highest ticket sales ever is yet to peak at N200M. Are Nigerian consumers not willing to spend during this period or no title is yet to pull off the biggest love story yet. There is an opportunity for domestic studios to hit capture this untapped market yet.
see below data and analytics on films that have won this window so far.
7. Easter Influx Positives
The easter window is now a lucrative time to exhibit on the big screens. 74.04% jump in ticket sales was recorded year on year from 2021/2022.
For 2022, The box office knew a new turn in Week 15 when Euphoria 360 and Anthill Studios debuted their epic title, King of Thieves. The films opened with a whopping sum of 69.23 million. The was an opening ground for the success that was ahead of it. The week that followed that, being the Easter week, experienced another rise. 216.27 million was grossed that week.
For 2021, this window major grossed N124.26 million. Anthill Studios’ Prophetess, which made a ticket sale of N50 million played part in the week’s success.
For 2022, All cinemas were shut down, and zero ticket sales. This also had an impact on the next year’s window which recorded a negative jump.
For the 2019 Easter influx, another significant elevation on the chart was observed. With a gross of N186.92 million, the week’s success overweighed that of the year’s first week.
Many titles made their debut this week. Such titles include Little, a Comedy/Fantasy/Romance flick, which made N32.55 million; Pefti’s Knock Out, which grossed 15.99 million; and Away Bus, grossing N10.68 million. Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame, which was still less than a week at the time, also made N22.578 million.
8. Eid al Fitr Bucket Holiday Scoop
Eid el-Fitr is the earlier of the two official holidays celebrated within Islam. The religious holiday is celebrated by Muslims worldwide because it marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan.
Nigeria celebrates this holiday every year and the box office data shows how consumers spend this huge amount of money during this period.
In Summary
The year 2022 is promising for the business of big screens. While domestic titles are not yet yielding the best of revenues, Hollywood is back like it never left, bringing the products and consumers needed to juice ticket sales back to pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019.
This is good news from some angle of the principle that consumers may come for 2 Hollywood movies today and may therefore try one Nollywood the next time. The frequency of this happening is linked to when Nollywood can perhaps close the market share gap.
With just half of the year gone, 2 billion in ticket sales is a huge signal that Q3 and Q4 will yield huge figures that is far better than pre-pandemic levels of N5Billion.
This is a Shock Exclusive, Thank you for reading
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