Nigerian cinema, often referred to as Nollywood, consists of movies produced and directed in Nigeria; its history dates back to as early as the late 19th century and into the colonial era in the early 20th century. The history and development of the Nigerian motion picture industry is sometimes generally classified in four main eras: the Colonial era, Golden Age, Video film era and the emerging New Nigerian cinema.

The earliest film to be made in Nigeria was the 1926 Palaver produced by Geoffrey Barkas; this film was also the first film ever to feature Nigerian actors in a speaking role. As at 1954, mobile cinema vans played to at least 3.5 million people in Nigeria, and films being produced by the Nigerian Film Unit were screened for free at 44 available cinemas. The first film entirely copyrighted to the Nigerian Film unit is Fincho (1957) by Sam Zebba; which is also the first Nigerian film to be shot in colour.

The Indigenization Decree was issued by Yakubu Gowon in 1972, which demanded the transfer of ownership of around 300 film theatres from their foreign owners to Nigerians, which resulted in more Nigerians playing active roles in the cinema and film industry.The oil boom of 1973 to 1978 had contributed immensely to the spontaneous boost of the cinema culture in Nigeria, as the increased purchasing power in Nigeria made a wide range of citizens to have disposable income to spend on cinema going and on home television sets.

After several moderate performing films, Papa Ajasco (1984) by Wale Adenuga became the first blockbuster, grossing approximately ₦61,000 (approx. 2015 ₦21,552,673) in three days. A year later, Mosebolatan (1985) by Moses Olaiya also went ahead to gross ₦107,000 (approx. 2015 ₦44,180,499) in five days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4OmWlNl11w



After the decline of the Golden era, Nigerian film industry experienced a second major boom in the 1990s, supposedly marked by the release of the direct-to-video film Living in Bondage (1992); the industry peaked in the mid 2000s to become the second largest film industry in the world in terms of the number of annual film productions, placing it ahead of the United States and behind only India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGXs6Cd1jfA



Since mid-2000s, the Nigerian cinema have undergone some restructuring to promote quality and professionalism, with The Figurine (2009) widely regarded as marking the major turn around of contemporary Nigerian cinema. There have since been a resurgence cinema establishments, and a steady return of the cinema culture in Nigeria.As of 2013, Nigerian cinema is rated as the third most valuable film industry in the world based on its worth and revenues generated.

This deserves to be on the front page



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