The Nigerian cinema, Nollywood, is a fertile ground for the exploration of ideas that reflect the experiences of Nigerians. Whether historical, mythical, or contemporary, Nollywood films have always provided graphical details of its society. Nollywood filmmakers in the 90s and early 2000s, such as Kenneth Nnebue, Zeb Ejiro, Amaka Igwe, and Lancelot Imasuen, patronized the public with film and television productions shouldering realities of the era such as magic, crime, family drama, and, perhaps most evidently, the get-rich-quick syndrome (money ritual, prostitution, armed robbery).
These productions have come to be known as “home videos”, for being recorded into cassette tapes that are inserted into video-playing devices that ensure the film is viewed through the television set at home; and “Old Nollywood”, for their low-quality production values and minimal budgets. Many of these productions are also considered “classics” because, in addition to being pioneering Nollywood films, they are predicated on timeless themes that have been revamped in modern cinema. For instance, while the production vision and values for Glamour Girls and Oloture differ, both films are bound by a common theme—sex trafficking—with EbonyLife’s Oloture providing a more visceral and nuanced interpretation of the social malaise.
The groundbreaking efforts of Nollywood classics have been admired by today’s Nollywood filmmakers (Charles Okpaleke, Niyi Akinmolayan, Ramsey Nouah), and acknowledged in the modern cinema through remakes and open or subtle references (see Ebuka Njoku’s Yahoo+ and Heavens Obule’s Ihunaayam). In 2015, the Charles Okpaleke-led Play Network Studios, a film production company, acquired the rights to Kenneth Nnebue’s 1992/93 money ritual film, Living In Bondage. Together with Ramsey Nouah, who marked his directorial debut on the project, Okpaleke released the 2019 film Living In Bondage: Breaking Free as a sequel to the 20th-century classic.
Since the commercial success of the release, Play Network Studios has championed the reimagination of other classics, Nneka the Pretty Serpent, Glamour Girls, and Aki Na Ukwa, in the modern cinema, and have also announced the acquisition of the rights to the remake or sequels of Diamond Ring, Billionaires Club, and Karishika.
Let’s take a look at five Nollywood classics and their modern remakes.
Living In Bondage (1992/93) and Living In Bondage: Breaking Free (2019)
Kenneth Nnebue’s Living In Bondage, considered as marking the beginning of the home video era of Nollywood, is an Igbo language film that treats the get-rich-quick phenomenon of money ritual. The two-part story is about Andy Okeke (Kenneth Okonkwo), a young man who joins a satanic cult and sacrifices and offers human sacrifice for wealth. While he relishes his newfound wealth, new problems arise and his life soon takes a turn for the worse as he becomes insane. Eventually, he is cured of his insanity and finds redemption through Pentecostalism. Charles Okpaleke’s Living In Bondage: Breaking Free is set twenty-five years after the events of the prequel. Andy Okeke, now a pastor and his son, Nnamdi Okeke (Jidekene Achufusi), whom the story centers, are faced with a similar get-rich-quick predicament. The production reprises the roles of Kenneth Okonkwo, Bob Manuel Udokwu and Kanayo O. Kanayo from the earlier version and introduces new actors too, including Ramsey Nouah who marked his directorial debut on the project. Living In Bondage: Breaking Free was well received and turned out a commercial success, finishing as the 11th highest-grossing Nollywood film of all time at the end of its theatrical run and amassing six accolades at the 2020 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards. It is currently available on Netflix.
Nneka the Pretty Serpent (1994) and Nneka the Pretty Serpent (2020)
Zeb Ejiro and Okechukwu Ogunjiofor create a template for the Nollywood horror movie genre in Nneka the Pretty Serpent, a production exploring the traditional African belief in water spirits and the overall influence of the supernatural in the mundane affairs of man. In the film, Ndidi Obi plays Nneka, a young lady, conceived through the influence of a water goddess, who possesses supernatural powers with which she perpetrates malevolent actions and is particularly fortified by the queen mother to exert revenge and claim the lives of six people who stole her powers. The Play Network production also brings back the aging Ndidi Obi in a different role as Queen Mother, alongside other veterans and present-day stars like Zack Orji, Bovi Ugboma, Shaffy Bello, Bimbo Ademoye and Beverly Osu. The remake, of the same title, is written by Adia Uyoyou and directed by Tosin Igho, with TV host Idia Aisien making her acting debut in the lead role of Nneka. Unlike the Living In Bondage sequel, the 2020 horror version of Zeb Ejiro’s horror story is a remake with a unique storyline.
Glamour Girls (1994) and Glamour Girls (2022)
Shot in 1994, the original Glamour Girls navigates the life of a village girl, Sandra, played by Jennifer Okere, whose quest for a better life takes her to Lagos where she is introduced into a world of prostitution. The Kenneth Nnebue-produced movie highlights the relationship between the sexes and the power of money—focusing on sexuality, prostitution and the independence of women in defiance of patriarchal influences, with Chika Onukwufor as director. The second part, Glamour Girls 2: The Italian Connection, released two years after, digs deeper into the world of sex trafficking on an international level. The remake of the classic has an entirely different storyline with characters. The 2022 movie, produced by Abimbola Craig and Charles Okpaleke, and directed by Bunmi Ajakaye, casts Sharon Ooja as Emmanuela or “Emma”, a local bumbling stripper-dancer who is thrown out of a club she works out for allegedly stealing a client’s ring. Desperate for upward mobility, she persuades Donna, played by Nse Ikpe-Etim, a woman in charge of an escort-based team, to allow her to join her establishment. Also starring in the 2022 movie as female escorts are Toke Makinwa, Joselyn Dumas and Segilola Ogidan. Tomisan Awosika writes that, in comparison with the original, the remake offers an “underwhelming concept of glamour” and goes off tangent as “a complicated murder mystery”. Glamour Girls (2022) is currently showing on Netflix.
Rattlesnake (1995) and Rattlesnake: The Ahanna Story (2020)
Directed by one of Nigeria’s foremost female filmmakers, Amaka Igwe, Rattlesnake is a three-part action thriller film, starring Francis Duru as Ahanna, alongside Nkem Owoh, Chris Iheuwa, Bob-Maneuel Udokwu, Uche Odoputa, Stella Damascus, Genevieve Nnaji and Anne Njemanze among others. Told in Igbo language, the movie tells the story of Ahanna and his desperate attempts to survive and fend for his siblings through a life of crime. The 2020 remake is the second collaborative project of Charles Okpaleke and Ramsey Nouah, following the box office success of Living In Bondage: Breaking Free. It is also Ramsey Nouah’s sophomore feature-length project as a director, with Stan Nze cast in the lead role of Ahanna Okolo. This time around, a disillusioned Ahanna leaves the village for Lagos where he reunites with two old friends, Amara (Osas Ighodaro) and Nzenozo (Bucci Franklin) to form a group called the Armandas who dangerously specialize in a series of heists. Despite the plot similarities, both Amaka Igwe’s Rattlesnake and Play Network’s Rattlesnake: The Ahanna Story are executed differently as they provide insights into a criminal adventure borne out of desperation.
Aki na Ukwa (2003) and Aki and Paw Paw (2021)
Nollywood veterans Osita Iheme and Chinedu Ikedieze acquired their epithets as Aki and Paw Paw respectively from the 2003 dramedy, Aki na Ukwa. The iconic drama, produced by Chukwuka Emelionwu and directed by Amayo Uzo Phillips, follows the mischievous adventures of Aki and Paw Paw at school, at home and in the community. While they constantly get into trouble with their father Mazi Mbakwe, played by Amaechi Muonagor, they become too difficult to manage and are sent to live with relations where they orchestrate more chaos. Play Network’s Aki and Paw Paw continues the story of the troublesome brothers who live and work in Lagos where they luckily encounter wealth and social media fame but are faced with the temptations that come with this new lifestyle. In the remake, which is directed by Biodun Stephen, Iheme and Ikedieze reprise their roles as Aki and Paw Paw, with Muonagor also retaining his role as their father. The cast of the remake also includes Toyin Abraham, Uti Nwachukwu, Juliet Ibrahim, Stan Nze, Real Warri Pikin, MC Lively and Beverly Osu.
