Will Netflix Phase Out Watching Nigerian Movies in Cinemas?

A couple of years ago, if I was told that Nollywood movies will not only be getting sold out in cinemas nationwide but will also be making the kind of money it currently is now, I’d have laughed my ass off and continued sipping my glass of wine. But I guess the joke’s on me, right?

Ever since Kunle Afolayan‘s The Figurine, the need for cinemas nationwide showing Nigerian movies became too paramount and if we are being honest, the quality of the movies that are being made now would have been a slap on the industry’s face if the level they could reach was being made into a “home video”.

It’s a good thing for the Nollywood industry as a whole, but will this success become affected by the herald of Netflix in Africa? First, they bought LionHeart by Genevieve Nnaji and even though there were problems between Genevieve and the Film Distributors which saw her directorial debut movie not get shown in cinemas, she ended up making over a billion naira from Netflix alone. That is over two times the amount the highest-grossing movie ever, The Wedding Party 2, made.

After getting a magnificent run in cinemas, Chief Daddy is also going to be available for streaming on Netflix from March 15th, and there are other Nollywood movies there as well.

This raises the question, should I just wait for the movies to be on Netflix instead of stressing myself going to the cinemas to watch them, struggle to get a good seat with a good view, and actually save a lot of time, money, and energy?

Would I start thinking that if the movie doesn’t get put on Netflix, then it clearly wasn’t worth watching in the cinemas in the first place, so I won’t lose anything in the end?

If we look at the calibre of movies on streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and more, you can confidently beat your chest and say that they are actually good enough movies. I doubt those streaming platforms will even accept to buy or put mediocre content on their platforms because it is easy to run at a loss, so they have to be really, really picky.

So what do you think? Will Netflix end up phasing out going to watch Nollywood movies in cinemas, especially considering the fact that it is way more cost effective? Let me know what you think in the comment section below.