Omotola reveals her ₦103m movie earned just ₦22m after cinema deductions

Nollywood actress and filmmaker Omotola Ekeinde has revealed that her movie A Mother’s Love grossed over ₦103 million during its cinema run, but the producers were left with about ₦22 million after various deductions.

In a video shared online, Omotola gave an account of the movie’s cinema performance and explained how much was ultimately accrued to the producers after deductions by exhibitors, distributors and other industry stakeholders.

According to her, A Mother’s Love recorded a total cinema gross of ₦103,094,633 before deductions.

She explained that several charges, including exhibitors’ shares, Value Added Tax (VAT), entertainment tax, withholding tax, advertising and other expenses, were deducted from the total revenue.

“At the end of our run, we had made ₦103,094,633. After deduction from exhibitors, Value Added Tax, entertainment tax, withholding tax, and every other thing, the money that was accrued to us as producers of Mother’s Love was ₦22 million,” she said.

Omotola said the movie’s final cinema run was on April 19 and described the experience as challenging, particularly because it was her first time personally participating in cinema runs as a producer.

She explained that she eventually had to withdraw the movie from cinemas because of pressing commitments that prevented her from adequately promoting it and maintaining a strong presence at the cinemas.

“I know I would do the movie a disservice if I left it in the cinemas, and I wouldn’t have the time to promote it or be there in the cinemas, as the culture was or is at this time,” she said.

The actress also revealed that she fulfilled a pledge to donate 10 per cent of the producers’ ₦22 million earnings to the NGO Slum2School.

The disclosure has reignited discussions about how cinema revenue is shared among filmmakers, exhibitors, distributors and other stakeholders in Nigeria’s film industry.

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