Sugar Rush movie arrived with it’s wings soaring high at the Nigerian box office.
The action-comedy produced by Jadesola Osiberu and directed by Kayode Kasum hit hard with audiences opening with an N58 million opener –Read Here
Then, the unthinkable happened.
The Nigeria film and video censors board gave it a temporary suspension citing that the license given to the film was not permanent and the temporary one has expired.
With this directive, all cinemas in the country pulled off Sugar Rush from their screening schedules.
This immediately took effect from January 11 – January 16, 2020
Sugar Rush had earned N165 Million as at suspension date.
A look at the graph shows how the movie was consistently hitting good numbers for 3 consecutive weekends with the gross figures starting from N58 Million
The Total gross numbers was showing a beautiful straight line curve of ticket sales going up at a phenomenal rate and it’s something every executive producer prays and hope for – Jade and the sugar rush team got this going on but unfortunately the ban took place
Press statements were issued by concerned parties with emphasis that the movie will be back to the big screens and audiences should stay positive
JadeSola Osiberu in an Instagram post says: We are staying positive and optimistic, but honestly, this is a big blow both mentally and financially
I am grateful that everyone involved behind the scenes is trying to rectify this and i am hopeful that we will be allowed back not too long.
Like every young person in Nigeria trying to survive and thrive in a system as difficult as ours, this has been heartbreaking for me”
On January 16th, few hours to the beginning of the weekend, The Nigeria film and video censors board restored Sugar Rush back to an active status – The suspension had been lifted
Quick the cast gathered for a late-night Instagram video to inform audiences that the suspension is over and the “Masterpiece” film was back to the big screens.
Now, Two things happened during this suspension
1. Fears of a Recut:
Allegedly, the suspension handed to the movie was due to the fact that a certain government agency portrayed in the movie as been incompetent and dismal in handling state affairs pertaining to corruption took offense
There was fear of a possible recut before the movie could be allowed to screen again.
This came out to be untrue as upon our second screen by our editor, nothing was touched
CONFIRMED: Sugar Rush was NOT recut
Upon it's return to the big screens after a temporary suspension, sugar rush movie returned untouched 👍
As you were folks
— S H ⚡ C K ! (@Shockng) January 22, 2020
2. Free PR
With the news of a Nollywood movie being banned by the federal government, domestic audiences quickly tuned in to the whole drama and wanted to be a part of it
Bloggers, Newsroom, and folks who have a large following on social dashed to write about it in order to cash in on the traffic
This inevitably gave it a Free PR
How much Did Sugar Rush Miss?
Upon it’s returning to the big screens, sugar rush has been able to pull past the N200 Million Mark
17th – 23rd of January
Weekend Gross: N18 Million
7 Day Gross: N27.81 Million
Total Gross: N194.212 Million
24th – 26th of January
Weekend Gross: N16.83 million
Total Gross: N211.174 Million
The graph above shows how the ban slowed down sugar rush clocking the N200 Million Mark in it’s due time
Demand at the cinemas was on a high side for this to have happened
Based on projections, if there wasn’t a suspension, we posit that sugar rush would have hit the N200 million mark the week during the ban and not two weekends after
Generally, after 3rd-weekend screenings, we found out that box office movies experience a 38% decrease on their weekend to weekend numbers
After 4th or 5th weekends screenings, the decrease surges to a 70% decrease
(Note that anomalies can occur, this is just an observed trend and should not be quoted publicly)
Using this for Sugar rush numbers (Weekends Only)
3rd-weekend numbers: N37.27 Million
a 38% decrease would lead to a deduction of N14.16 Millon
Meaning sugar rush would have hit N23.11 Million for its 4th weekend, but this was not so as the abrupt ban happened
Box office numbers reveal that it did N18 Million
Based on these results, a projected weekend miss of N5.11 Million is suspected to have happened
N23.11 – N18 Million = N5.11 Million (Plus/Minus)
To round this report up, nobody actually knows the actual figures, the above numbers were crunched up based on theoretical assumptions
On Twitter, we ran a poll of how much did audiences think the movie missed out on – Get The Answers Here
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