Cinemax CEO Ope Ajayi has announced the launch of The Lagos Business of Film Summit, a new industry gathering he’s positioning as a forum focused squarely on the commercial and structural side of the film ecosystem.
While full details about the conference are yet to be made public, Ajayi described the summit as a business-focused convening aimed at bringing together key stakeholders across film distribution, exhibition, regulation, financing, and production. According to him, the intention is to create space for conversations around how the industry functions as a business and how different parts of the ecosystem intersect.
Ajayi noted that the summit is expected to engage with industry-wide questions, including performance trends, market data, and the broader economic realities shaping film today.
The Lagos Business of Film Summit follows a notable year for Ajayi’s distribution company, Cinemax. The company handled the 2025 theatrical release of ‘Gingerrr‘, which premiered in September and recorded a strong box office run which earned more than ₦519 million over 10 weeks, further cementing Cinemax’s growing footprint in Nigeria’s film distribution.
The summit also marks the latest industry-facing initiative from Ajayi, whose career has largely been defined by a focus on film infrastructure and distribution. He previously served as Executive Director at Genesis Cinemas, where he played a central role in expanding cinema exhibition and strengthening local distribution pipelines before launching Cinemax in 2023 to address gaps between production, exhibition, and audience access.
Beyond exhibition and distribution, Ajayi has remained an active voice in policy and industry conversations, including his tenure as chairman of the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN). His work has consistently centred on the business of film: how movies move through theatres, how audiences are built, and how sustainability can be achieved across the value chain.
With the Lagos Business of Film Summit, Ajayi appears to be extending that long-running focus into a dedicated convening space. For now, he says more information will be shared in the coming days.
Until then, the summit stands as another signal of the intensifying attention on the business conversations shaping film beyond the screen.
