Report: Nollywood’s Leading Film Genre is Drama, Not Comedy

Drama was named Nollywood’s leading genre in 2023 for dominating 45.5 per cent of the top 44 Nollywood films released at the box office.

According to a report by film insights publication In Nollywood’s The Industry Journal, the best-performing films were determined by a ₦50 million gross and above in the cinemas.

Other indices include a top ten rank for over a week and high audience social interaction for films with exclusive streaming debuts.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that drama beat comedy as more filmmakers and audiences leaned into the genre, countering the trend in previous years.

It also showed that despite the heavy popularity of projects in the epic genre, they only account for 6.8 per cent, while crime and action thrillers account for 25 per cent combined.

The cultural epic, also called the “traditional film”, is a thriving Nigerian genre characterised by old Nigerian traditional setting, costume and manner of speaking.

ALSO READ: Funke Akindele’s film responsible for 14% of Nigerian cinemas’ 2023 earnings

Although drama led the box office grosses ahead of comedy for most parts of 2023, it lost the earnings race to comedy due to the record-breaking feat of Funke Akindele’s `A Tribe Called Judah.’

There were only five major comedy projects in the top 40 throughout the year with a total gross of ₦194.69million before Akindele’s project made its way to the cinemas, according to the report.

NAN reports that Akindele’s film has become the first Nollywood film to hit one billion naira in cinemas.

The one billion mark was only ever achieved by Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

(NAN)