‘Behind the Scenes’ continues to extend one of the most lucrative theatrical runs in local cinema history. The film crossed the ₦2.5 billion mark during the frame, reinforcing its position not just as the weekend’s top performer but as the central economic force currently driving the market.
“That was phenomenal. It still retains number one for the eighth consecutive weekend,” the NGA Box Office said in its weekly commentary, spotlighting the film’s sustained dominance. With cumulative grosses now exceeding ₦2.5 billion and admissions climbing past 422,000, ‘Behind the Scenes’ remains one of the highest-grossing and most-watched films ever released in Nigerian cinemas.
The endurance of the run is particularly striking. Eight weekends at the number one place, ‘Behind the Scenes’ is in rare territory, especially at a point in the calendar typically defined by post-holiday slowdowns. Rather than tapering sharply, the film continues to anchor weekly box office performance, shaping programming decisions and audience traffic deep into the first quarter.
While ‘Behind the Scenes’ defined the scale of the weekend, ‘Oversabi Aunty’ continued to underline Nollywood’s expanding billion-naira tier. The film added approximately ₦29.7 million over the weekend, pushing its cumulative total to ₦1.068 billion. According to the NGA Box Office, “It’s doing well; it crossed 185 admissions and is probably heading for that 200k admissions,” signalling further upside despite being well into its run.
Together, the performances of ‘Behind the Scenes’ and ‘Oversabi Aunty’ accounted for a significant share of the weekend’s revenue, reinforcing the extent to which December releases are still dictating market behaviour weeks later.
New releases found room to perform, though largely beneath the weight of the holdovers. ‘Alive Till Dawn’ emerged as the strongest opener of the weekend, delivering ₦20.2 million. The NGA Box Office highlighted the result as notable, stating that the film “performed really well for a horror genre. A zombie movie doing 20.2 million at the box office was really, really good.”
The romance title ‘Everything Is New Again’ also posted a respectable debut, grossing approximately ₦12.9 million. The NGA Box Office described the result as solid “for a romance movie”, particularly within a marketplace dominated by established titles.
Hollywood releases continued their steady contributions. ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ pushed its Nigerian total to around ₦640 million, with the NGA Box Office noting that the film “continues to grow well enough”, even as weekly earnings soften.
Further down the chart, late-run titles showed clearer signs of fatigue. ‘Colours of Fire’ dropped sharply, falling by 79% over the weekend to around ₦136.5 million cumulative, with expectations that it will “probably end its run at about 150 million.” ‘A Very Dirty Christmas’ crossed the ₦140 million mark, a result the NGA Box Office described as “quite good” for a film this deep into release.
In total, cinemas generated roughly ₦180 million across all titles during the frame, reflecting a stable but consolidating market. From a commentary perspective, however, the weekend belonged decisively to ‘Behind the Scenes’. As the NGA Box Office summed it up, “That’s where things are from a commentary perspective about the box office.”
