In a country where most people live far from a cinema, FilmHub’s low-budget pilot in Navy Town, Ojo, Lagos State, is testing whether community screenings can unlock a new future for Nigerian films.
According to the 2024 Nigerian Box Office Yearbook compiled by FilmOne Entertainment, the ratio of people to cinema in West Africa is 4.5 million to one. The region’s residents are served by just 352 screens across 107 locations. The majority of those screens serve Nigeria’s box office, which grossed nearly ₦11 billion last year.
On May 23, 2025, FilmHub Ojo launched with Omoni Oboli’s Wives on Strike 3. The small-footprint cinema, located inside the Navy Town Barracks, pulled in six figures in gross box office revenue in its first 10 days—without food-and-beverage sales or paid marketing. Tickets sold at ₦3,000 for the general public and ₦2,000 for a Navy Wives special screening, drawing over 150 paying attendees.
This is the first site in a plan to build 1,000 community cinemas across Nigeria within two years. The model leans on lean infrastructure, fair revenue sharing, and digital automation to make cinema access possible in underserved locations.
Revenue from screenings will be split among the film distributor, the location owner, and FilmHub, which sets up and manages the sites. Ticketing and settlement are powered by Fusion Intelligence’s (owner of FilmHub) software, allowing next-day royalty payments across the value chain.
A Scalable Approach to Exhibition
FilmHub aims to open ten new locations by the end of July. The long-term rollout is structured as a franchise model, with equipment financing expected to come through development finance institutions. Location operators will be licensed and supported with training, technical infrastructure, and access to a curated film slate.
Insights from the Navy Town pilot are already informing cost reductions and setup improvements for future sites, allowing the company to streamline capital requirements without sacrificing audiovisual quality.
Content Is Key
Films for the pilot have so far been sourced through Nile Entertainment. Having built a secure content delivery system, Fusion Intelligence CEO Kolade Adewoye shared that “conversations are ongoing with other distributors, including Tribe Nation Theatrical Distribution and FilmOne Entertainment, to broaden the offering and make new titles available within weeks of their first-run release.”
Even without snacks or a robust release calendar, the performance at FilmHub Ojo has somewhat confirmed a truth the industry was searching for: people will pay to watch films locally—if given the chance.
After four years of working in Nollywood, I’ve seen the idea of community cinemas raised in countless meetings and industry events. It’s a concept that’s been talked up often but never truly executed. FilmHub is the first serious attempt to build it into something tangible—beyond the panels, pitch decks, and good intentions.
A New Distribution Frontier
FilmHub Ojo isn’t just a pilot location. It’s a blueprint for what cinema access could look like in a country where theatrical screens remain concentrated in urban centres. With lean infrastructure, a simplified revenue model, and real-time payouts, it isn’t just offering an alternative—it’s building a new distribution frontier from the ground up.
If the rest of the rollout performs like Navy Town, the future of cinema may be more local than anyone expected.
