Four elements
contribute to the success of a movie at the box-office. They include good
script, experienced director, professional publicist, and most importantly,
the big name stars.
Of all the four, there is one a producer should never violate at the market
place and that is the ‘star’ aspect of it. There could be a bad script,
inexperienced director and not too good publicity for the movie but it is
almost impossible to have Return On Investment (ROI) with un-bankable
stars.
Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde:
On the list is Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde with box-office gross of N60 million.
She made N24 million with Last Flight to Abuja, N6 million from Private
Storm and her N30 million share in Ije bring her total earning to N60 million.
This year alone, no actress has made as much as N24 million from a single
movie; Funke Akindele would have done so with The Return of Jenifa but the
movie hit the box office in 2011.
Omotola, who was reported to have been paid N5 million by Tarila
Thompson all in the bid to make his movie a blockbuster, has been
described as the biggest box office actress of 2012. She recorded successes
back to back but it remains to be seen if she can pull off the box office
magic again with Amina and other movies coming in 2013.
Omotola has been an A-list actress even before Genevieve got her first big
break and so what has been working for her is the wise investment in her
brand. Her enduring presence and unceasing contact with her fans via the
social media has made her popular even in an environment where a mother
of four like her is not fashionable.
Genevieve Nnaji:
Next is Genevieve Nnaji. Love or hate her, Genny as she is fondly called,
has a way with cinema audiences that make them come back again and
again for her movies.
So far, Genevieve’s starring in the movies has grossed over N83 million at
the box office. Mirror Boy (described by the actress as her first major film
and the first to put her at the box-office) made N18 million, while Ije netted
N60 million turning out to be Nigeria’s highest grossing movie ever. But
Genevieve had to share the money with Omotola, who also acted alongside
her. If the sharing formula is 50-50, then Genevieve gets N30 million of the
total gross.
Genevieve’s next movie, Tango with Me went on to make N35 million. So,
putting all the figures together, Genny remains at the head of the pack. What
seem to be working for Genevieve are her enduring power, popularity and
social media connection. The actress has been there for over a decade and
is still waxing stronger. Her wine seems to taste better with age.
Another plus for Genny is her popularity. Genevieve is hugely popular across
Africa and most especially among the youths. Before now, she has been
very active on the social media especially Twitter. She even had to put up a
Facebook advert after reports emerged that some acts were ahead of her
there.
Funke Akindele:
Surprisingly, the third person on the list is Funke Akindele, a young lady who
rose to fame in I Need To Know, a TV series, and went on to earn a
monstrous fame with Jenifa.
Funke is an unlikely candidate on this list. Now, how can one explain that
she is third on a list parading heavy weights like Omoni Oboli, Nse Ikpe-
Etim and Stephanie Okereke among others?
So far, Funke has made over N56 million, netting over N20 million in 2012
alone. In The Return of Jenifa, Funke netted N35 million. The movie ran till
February 2012. Her movie, Married but Living Single made N9.9 million
while Maami made N11 million. The actress is on her way to another
cinema glory with a movie, A Wish. Let’s hope she will be able to wave the
magical wand again and create a box-office success.
For Funke who recently got married, the plus factor for her is her huge
popularity among the masses and elites. Her movie, Jenifa cuts across all
social groups with the street parlance in it becoming the mode of
communication in social gathering. And as an icing on the cake, Funke has
moved upscale, she is now the toast of events organized by the rich and not
so rich. Her box office credibility transcends the cinema as all DVDs
parading her face turn into gold.
Omoni Oboli:
Omoni Oboli, who is still largely unknown to those who don’t patronise the
cinema and social media, is fourth on the list. She is a silent achiever.
Before the trio of Genevieve, Omotola and Funke even dreamt of hitting the
box office, Omoni Oboli already took the lead. Figurine, her first box office
appearance made N13 million while her second effort, Anchor Baby made
N18 million bringing her total earning to N31million.
Omoni’s strength is her exclusivity and knack for quality. It is a known fact
that if the project is not big and ambitious, Omoni might not do it. The
disadvantage of that is, despite her box office credibility, Omoni is still
unknown in areas where there is no access to cinemas. Perhaps, that is the
reason she tries to make up with the red carpet presence.
For now, the exclusivity is working for Omoni; perhaps her new movie,
Broken and other works will introduce a new twist. One other thing that
should not be forgotten is the unprecedented publicity of Anchor Baby in
2010. The film also had Omoni at the forefront of meeting and greeting of
fans at the cinemas.
Nse Ikpe-Etim:
The fifth slot belongs to Nse Ikpe-Etim. She seems to be the latest sensation
in big budget movies. In Mr and Mrs, Nse was a delight, her performance
was a reference point and it was a hook that kept drawing people to the
cinema while the movie was there.
Mr and Mrs made N6 million while another of her film, Phone Swap made
N20 million, making a total of N26 million.
Too early for Nse to cement her place, as she hasn’t done N15 million back-
to-back but one thing the actress has made clear is that she has intention of
doing that. The leading four acts should be afraid of Nse because her
strength lies in her pure acting talent.
Nse is born to act, deemed to be unnecessarily assertive a times, but you
can’t accuse her of not knowing her lines. And she pushes her movies with
virgour, moving from one cinema to the other.
However, Nse should watch it as many have accused her of being too ‘self-
conscious’, a term casually used for budding stars who have ‘over-hyped’
impression of themselves as this could alienate fans who make the box-
office count.
Rita Dominic and Stephanie Okereke
Rita Dominic and Stephanie Okereke should readily make the list but they
haven’t appeared at the cinemas more than once. Hopefully, Rita will break
into the list with The Meeting, Lion of 76 and Street of Calabar while
Stephanie already had N10 million under her belt with Through the Glass.
Of course, there are exceptions to the rules. A bankable star makes easier
the job of a producer; the absence of one, however, is not a ready-made
doom for a movie as Avatar and Slumdog Millionaire (both global box office
hits) have shown. But if one would take a risk or err, it’s better to err on the
part of caution.
Wikipedia defines a bankable star to be an actor famous or
charismatic enough to be “capable of guaranteeing box-office
success simply by showing up in a movie”. It is common
knowledge that a Will Smith will sell any movie no matter
how bad as long as he has his face on the jacket.
In Nigeria, some movie stars have proven again and again
that they can guarantee return on investment as long as their
faces adorn the poster. They are Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde,
Genevieve Nnaji, Omoni Oboli, Funke Akindele and Nse Ikpe-
Etim.
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