In the first half of 2026 alone, the Nigerian box office has crossed ₦8.83 billion, led by ‘Call of My Life’.
As the Uzoamaka Power-led romcom climbs to No. 5 on the all-time chart, the performance outpaces the ₦7.75 billion recorded in the same period in 2025, with a broader shift coming into view: the near-complete exit of the films that defined the market just six years ago.
Currently, only one title from the 2020 top 10, ‘The Wedding Party’, remains on the list. With major December releases still ahead, that final holdover is expected to drop out, marking a full turnover of the chart within a single decade.
The change is not just about titles. It reflects a sharp expansion in scale.
In 2020, the highest-grossing film peaked at ₦453 million, with the rest of the top 10 largely made up of releases from 2016 to 2019, including ‘Chief Daddy’, ‘King of Boys’, and ‘Merry Men’. The chart moved slowly, with older hits holding their positions for years.
By 2026, the ceiling has shifted significantly. ‘Behind The Scenes’ leads the chart at ₦2.75 billion, followed by ‘Everybody Loves Jenifa’ (₦1.88 billion) and ‘A Tribe Called Judah’ (₦1.4 billion). Most of the current top 10 is made up of films released from 2021 onwards, pointing to a faster replacement cycle and a rebounding box office.
At the centre of this shift is a sustained run of high-performing releases. Since 2021, Funke Akindele has delivered a new film each year that reset the all-time box office record. The five titles, ‘Omo Ghetto: The Saga’, ‘Battle on Buka Street’, ‘A Tribe Called Judah’, ‘Everybody Loves Jenifa’, and ‘Behind The Scenes’, now sit within the top 10, occupying half of the chart.
Alongside this, Toyin Abraham has maintained a steady presence. While ‘Fate of Alakada’ did not enter the all-time top 10, its 2020 release played a key role in driving cinema attendance after months of shutdown. Since 2022, Abraham has added multiple entries to the chart, including ‘Ijakumo: The Born Again Stripper’, ‘Malaika’, ‘Alakada: Bad and Boujee’, and ‘Oversabi Aunty’, with the latter two currently positioned within the top tier.
Beyond individual runs, a pattern has emerged in how the chart evolves. Every two years, a new set of titles enters the top 10, displacing older releases. In 2022 and 2024, several films broke into the rankings and reset the order. The same cycle appears to be continuing in 2026.
‘Call of My Life’, directed by Dammy Twitch, is the latest entrant. The film has grossed over ₦672 million and continues to play in cinemas, already outperforming several existing titles and placing it at No. 5 on the Nigerian box office all-time chart.
The next shift is likely to come in December. New releases from Funke Akindele and Toyin Abraham are expected, alongside EbonyLife’s ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’, marking Mo Abudu’s return to cinemas after several years. The film, adapted from Lola Shoneyin’s novel, brings together multiple production partners and signals a renewed theatrical push from the studio. If recent patterns hold, these titles will not only reshape the top 10 but further extend the current box office ceiling.
That growth is already visible in the underlying market data. According to Filmone’s annual Nigeria Box Office Yearbook, total gross box office has more than doubled from ₦6.4 billion in 2019 to ₦15.6 billion in 2025, driven in part by rising ticket prices, which have increased from an average of ₦1,238 to ₦5,959 over the same period.
Admissions, however, tell a different story. Cinema attendance peaked at over 5.1 million in 2019 and has yet to return to that level, despite a steady recovery from the pandemic-era drop to 1.7 million in 2020. By 2025, admissions reached 2.79 million, which is still significantly below pre-pandemic figures.
At the same time, the exhibition footprint has expanded. The number of cinema sites has nearly doubled from 63 in 2019 to 122 in 2025, while total screens have grown from 218 to 369. Films are also running longer, with average release windows extending from three weeks to as much as six or seven in recent years.
This creates a different kind of pressure on the market. Higher grosses are being driven by pricing and scale, but sustained growth will depend on converting that expanded infrastructure into higher attendance.
That is where the December cycle becomes critical. In recent years, year-end releases have delivered the strongest box office performances and introduced new entrants into the all-time rankings. If 2026 follows that pattern, the upcoming slate will not only complete the turnover of the 2020 chart but also test whether the current growth in revenue can translate into a broader return of cinema audiences.
