Hot off the presses, we’ve received some worthwhile info about Nollywood director Obi Emelonye’s follow-up to his 2011 fantasy/adventure hit The Mirror Boy – a film we also covered on S&A, titled Last Flight To Abuja, the expensive (by Nollywood standards) disaster/thriller, said to be inspired by true events; an airplane suffers major mid-air problems which leads to a fatal crash.
The film was released in Nigeria on August 3rd, and after roughly 11 weeks in release, it has grossed 22,979,553 Naira (about $141,849), making it THE highest grossing Nigerian film in Nigeria this year.
According to our sources, it’s even beat out some Hollywood movies released in Nigeria this year, but we’re waiting for further information on those specifics. We wanted to get you this piece of news first.
Here’s the breakdown we received, verbatim – the top 4 grossing Nigerian movies in Nigeria so far this year, starting with the 4th:
4. In The Cupboard – 10,501,300 Naira ($64,823) – Release Date – 17th Aug 2012 (9weeks)
3. Maami – 11,928,600 Naira ($73,633) – Release Date – 3rd Feb 2012 (9Weeks)
2. Phone Swap – 20,713,503 Naira ($127,861) – Release Date – 30th March 2012 (7Weeks)
1. Last Flight To Abuja – 22,979,553Naira ($141,849) – Release Date -3rd Aug 2012 (11Weeks)
You’ll recognize both Phone Swap and Maami, as we’ve covered both films on S&A.
Leading up to its release, Last Flight was called one of Nollywood’s most anticipated films of 2012.
The longer description reads:
A set of everyday Nigerian traveller’s board the last Flamingo Airways flight scheduled to fly from Lagos to Abuja on a fateful Friday night in 2006. The plane cruises at 30,000 feet, tranquil and on schedule. But like a bolt out of the blue, through a mixture of human error, technical failure and sheer bad luck, the plane rapidly develops major difficulties that sends it teetering on the brink of disaster. As the pilots fight with the controls of the stricken aeroplane, a series of flashbacks unravel the twists, turns and leaps of fate that put each passenger on the fateful flight. Young lovers, an elderly couple, a corporate party, a sportsman on the threshold of greatness; all the passengers are caught up in the nightmare scenario and sense the final moments of their lives approach. All…except one! What does he know? Will they survive… the Last Flight to Abuja?
Last Flight To Abuja made its world premiere in June in a star-studden London event, with further releases planned for Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. No work on whether it’ll be released in the USA yet, but if it continues to do this well everywhere else, it probably will.
The film stars some of Nollywood’s stars like Omotola Jalade-Ekiende, Jim Iyke, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Ali Nuhu, Jide Kosoko, Uru Eke, and Anthony Monjaro.
Obi Emelonye has been one of those Nollywood directors pushing for the kind of higher quality and production values that will afford Nollywood product the same kind of worldwide respect as its contemporaries.
The film continues to play in theaters across Nigeria, so the total above will only go higher. Reports as to where it lands in Nigerian box office history are forthcoming.
