Funke Akindele’s ‘Battle on Buka Street’ has set a new record. Akindele is officially the first and only Nigerian filmmaker to make over N500 million twice.
Data from the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN) shows that the comedy-drama has earned over N640 million after spending only nine weeks in theatres.
The 2022 release is now the highest grossing Nollywood movie of all time. This title was previously held by ‘Omo Ghetto: The Saga’, also made by Akindele.
She is now the only Nigerian filmmaker to make over N500 million twice at the local box office.
Akindele is also breaking records outside the country. Her hit movie earned over $60,000 in the US, despite showing in only 11 locations.
Her movie is the first ever Indigenous Nollywood release in the United States. The movie was also released in the United Kingdom.
The journey to N640M
‘Battle on Buka Street’ has ruled the Nigerian Box Office since its release on December 12, 2022.
Despite opening on the same day as James Cameron’s highly anticipated ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, Akindele’s movie quickly earned N86.63 million.
By the second week, the comedy-drama had snatched the number one position from the action/sci-fi film; a rare occurrence for a Nollywood movie at the box office.
While Akindele’s movie enjoyed an 8% increase from December 23rd-25th, ‘Avatar 2’ lost steam, falling behind by 5%.
In the third week, the Nigerian movie retained its No. 1 position with N169.88 million in ticket sales while its direct competitor remained at second place with N93 million.
The Nigerian movie crossed the N500 million mark in its fourth week after raking N507.78 million, becoming the second Nollywood title to achieve this feat after ‘Omo Ghetto: The Saga’
Internationally, the movie has made over $2.218 billion, making it the third-highest-grossing film of all time. Cameron is now responsible for three of the four biggest releases in box office history.
‘Battle on Buka Street’ is a comedy-drama that follows the story of two half-sisters who have been rivals for a while. Their rivalry intensifies when they both set up their food businesses on the same street.
It stars Funke Akindele, Mercy Johnson, Nkem Owoh, Sola Sobowale, Kelvin Ikeduba, Tina Mba, and others.
Watch the hilarious trailer:
