In a statement by the Chairman of the association, Patrick Lee, the Cinema Exhibitors stressed that Genevieve and her team refused to secure a spot for ‘Lionheart’ on the film calendar that is followed by all cinemas.
“It is clear from the approach taken by the Lionheart team that these processes were not adhered to and most of our members rightly refused to take the movie,” Lee stressed in his reply to Genevieve’s alleged claims.
Continuing, Lee said, “It’s worth pointing out that other movies such as Chief Daddy, KOB and Merry men had all been slated from early March this year. Mo Abudu, AY and Kemi Adetiba who are industry compatriots of Genevieve’s followed the right approach by scheduling early for cinema release, it’s not fair that they may now possibly have their screen times reduced because of the rushed inclusion of Lionheart in the cinemas.”
Here’s the full statement from Cinema exhibitors in Nigeria “Hi all, as cinema exhibitors we have processes that guide us when considering a movie for exhibition in the cinema. “We expect the movie to come from a licenced distributor, we expect the movie to be given adequate run time in the cinemas before it is officially released on other platforms and also for our cinemas to be provided with adequate notice for the inclusion of the movie in an increasingly crowded calender. It is clear from the approach taken by the Lionheart team that these processes were not adhered to and most of our members rightly refused to take the movie.