Nigeria's film industry, Nollywood, has been making waves both locally and internationally. This article explores the highest-grossing Nigerian films, top franchises, and a curated list of the best movies ever produced in Nigeria. From gripping thrillers to heartwarming tales, Nollywood offers a diverse range of stories that resonate with audiences.
Source: Wikipedia
Highest-Grossing Nigerian Films
The following are the highest-grossing Nigerian films of all time in Nigerian cinemas. The 2024 film Everybody Loves Jenifa currently leads the chart, with ₦1,882,553,548 grossed over a few months. It's important to note that revenues from special screenings, DVD sales, online streaming, and theatrical screenings outside English-speaking West Africa are excluded from this gross total.
Here's a look at some of the top-performing films in Nigerian cinema:
Source: YouTube
Read also: Nigerian Film History
Top 10 Highest Grossing Nollywood Movies of All Time
This is a list of highest-grossing franchises and sequel film in Nigeria. Franchises and sequel films from this list have been adjusted for inflation. This list includes top selling franchises and sequel actor.
Top Nigerian Franchises and Sequels
Many Nigerian films have spawned successful franchises and sequels. These films often feature recurring characters and storylines, building a loyal fan base. Notably, franchises and sequel films from this list have been adjusted for inflation, providing a more accurate comparison of their financial performance over time.
Best Nigerian Movies of All Time
This list is an unofficial list of the best Nigerian Movies ever produced spanning decades. The list is subject to changes.
Here are some of the best Nigerian movies ever produced:
- Confusion Na Wa: Set in a Nigerian city, this dark comedy follows a group of strangers whose fates become intertwined over the course of 24 hours. Little do they realize that their misdemeanors have set in motion a chain of events that will lead to their own downfall. Confusion Na Wa was winner of the 'Best Picture' category at the 2013 African Movie Academy Awards.
- The Figurine (Araromire): The synopsis of The Figurine (Araromire) shows that it is a story of two buddies and a girl...all down on their luck have their lives changed when one of them discovers 'Araromire' a mysterious figurine in an abandoned shrine which, according to legend bestows seven years of good luck. But no one told them about the next seven years.
- Osuofia in London: Osuofia lives in a village in south-eastern Nigeria where he talks a lot and drinks a lot of palm wine. His main occupation is as a hunter, at which he is spectacularly unsuccessful. Then one day a lawyer's letter arrives to tell him that a long-forgotten brother has died in Britain, leaving him all his money. Meanwhile the crooked lawyer and his glamorous accomplice Samantha (a flame-haired temptress with a disconcerting resemblance to the young Rebecca Brooks) are working to get him to sign away his inheritance. All of which sets things up nicely for a sequel, as Samantha battles with the challenges of life in an African village, and the implacable hostility of the the first Mrs Osuofia.
- With Difficulty Comes Ease: Two scenes define Akorede Azeez’s family grief drama and delimit the two relationships pulling and pushing its lonely protagonist Zainab, a newly widowed designer.
- A Night in 2005: It is credit to Temidayo Makanjuola’s taut, coherent screenplay and Chinedum Iregbu’s efficient editing that this revenge and social thriller uses tropes and still feels refreshing.
- Afamefuna: An Nwa Boi Story: When Afamefuna’s mother brings him to the commercial city of Onitsha, to a businessman called Odogwu to become his nwa boi, his apprentice, young Afaemefuna is introduced to a new world larger than the one he had known in his village.
- A Green Fever: Off a lonely forest road in Taiwo Egunjobi’s historical mystery, a man carries his sick daughter and seemingly chances upon a compound deep in the forest, guarded by soldiers.
- A Tribe Called Judah: Jedidah Judah is a single mother to five very different sons from different men of different Nigerian ethnic groups: Igbo, Hausa, Ijaw, Yoruba, Urhobo.
- House of Ga’a: The historical Bashorun Ga’a lived during the height of the sprawling Oyo Empire, a renowned Prime Minister and military leader whose fall from grace has been spun into a popular Yoruba adage: If you are brave, venture into wickedness, but if you remember the death of Ga’a, adhere to the truth.
- Breath of Life: It is the 1960s, and Timi, a young clergyman with a messianic career and an exceptional skillset, returns to Nigeria, determined to revitalize the local church.
Confusion Na Wa
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Read also: Evolution of Nigerian Movies
