Lagos: Yinka Ade-Aluko, Chief Executive Officer of Doode Film Hub, has emphasized the importance of making films affordable and accessible, particularly to grassroots audiences, as a strategy to curb piracy in Nigeria. He made these remarks during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the premiere of his film, ‘Sango Alaaye’, and the launch of two books in Lagos.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Ade-Aluko expressed that Nigeria’s current cinema structure needs a redesign to cater to the general populace rather than a small segment of the elite. He highlighted that the existing Nollywood model, heavily influenced by Hollywood, fails to reach a broader audience. Despite Nigeria’s population exceeding 200 million, the highest grossed movie recorded under 400,000 admissions, underscoring the inadequacy of the current system.
Ade-Aluko pointed out that cinema ticket prices, ranging from N8,000 to N12,000, have alienated the masses and contracted the market. He proposed that the industry’s sustainable future lies in a community-centered cinema model, prioritizing affordability, mass consumption, and job creation.
He remarked, ‘The cinema of today in Nigeria is an elitist kind of cinema. One thing that is major for our own idea of a cinema is a cinema that will empower people, that will employ the underemployed industry.’
Ade-Aluko suggested implementing a model that involves producing films on lower budgets and establishing cottage cinemas costing between N50 million to N100 million, as opposed to multi-billion mega complexes. He also recommended adopting a mass-market ticket pricing strategy with prices as low as N1,000, asserting that concerns about running costs by mainstream operators would be alleviated by targeting the real consumer base.
‘Once you are into mass production, mass consumption, turnover will take care of that,’ he added.
He mentioned that his film, ‘Sango Alaaye’, a tentpole production, was created in collaboration with various universities and arts councils, with a budget of approximately N10 million. This initiative aimed to demonstrate that low-budget productions could yield significant impacts.