The Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN) has said that Nigerians spent N3, 124, 026, 959 billion to watch box office movies at Nigerian cinemas between January and June this year.
The information is contained in a report provided by cinemas and gathered by CEAN.
The year opened with ‘Aquaman’, ‘Chief Daddy’ and ‘Up North’ sitting on the top three of the chart with estimated combined earnings of N168, 263, 512 million.
The movies maintained their positions until the fourth week when ‘Glass’ debuted at number one with ‘Aquaman’ taking second place and ‘Chief Daddy’, third booting ‘Up North’ to fourth place.
This led to combined earnings of N91, 409, 100 million which fell to N77, 259, 811 million as January closed with Kevin Hart’s ‘The Upside’ kicking ‘Chief Daddy’ to fourth place.
The earnings remained low for February, making it the lowest grossing month with a total of N291, 843, 044 million.
Top spots were alternated between ‘Alita’, ‘Cold Pursuit’, ‘What Men Want’, ‘Escape Room’ and ‘The UpSide’.
By March, viewership picked up steadily and the earnings were almost doubled from that of February leading to a total of N434, 432, 431 million.
‘What Men Want’, ‘Alita’, ‘Hire A Woman’, ‘She Is’, ‘Us’ and ‘Babymamas’ enjoyed a relatively good run in March but a chunk of the earnings and viewership went to Marvel’s flick ‘Captain Marvel’.
At the beginning of April, ‘HellBoy’, ‘Shazam’, ‘Little’ and ‘Us’ continued to share the top spot with ‘Captain Marvel’ until the release of the much anticipated ‘Avengers: Endgame’.
With ‘Avengers: Endgame’, earnings from April climbed from 186, 929, 188 million Naira in its third week to N342, 382, 389 million in its final week.
The month, which is the highest grossing in 2019, closed with an estimated total earnings of N734, 151, 060 million due to major boost from Disney’s ‘Endgame’.
In May, there was a massive dip in earnings similar to that experienced in February. With ‘Endgame’, ‘The Intruder’ and ‘Longshot’, it earned a total of N367, 498, 554 million Naira.
The fall in viewership is usual after a global holiday such as Christmas for December/January and Easter for April.
The numbers picked up in June with ‘John Wick’, ‘Godzilla’ and ‘Aladdin’ leading the numbers. They were supported by ‘Anna’, ‘Men In Black’, ‘Dark Phoenix’ and ‘Bling Lagosians’.
June opened with N161, 132, 714 million but closed with N100, 663, 647 million leading to a total earning of N576, 322, 779 million.
