Funke Akindele Is Gearing Up for Another Blockbuster

The headlines read like a victory lap: 1 billion naira in 19 days. Everybody Loves Jenifa has just become the fastest Nollywood film to hit that milestone, and Funke Akindele has done it again. But even before its December 13, 2023, premiere, anticipation was feverish. The campaign began long before the official release date, crescendoing with the promotional song Everybody Loves Christmas on November 29, which pulled 2.5 million YouTube views. By the time the film landed in cinemas, there was really only one title on the marquee. For Akindele, who directs and stars in the Jenifa franchise, December supremacy is tradition. Just weeks ago, Nollyphiles wondered where her trademark pre-December blitz was. This past weekend, she answered with another: Behind the Scenes. Another blockbuster is brewing, and the question is not if Nigeria’s reigning box office queen will deliver, but whether she can surpass herself yet again.

Akindele’s reign is built on a streak of box office domination. In 2020, Omo Ghetto: The Saga pulled in 636 million naira, toppling Kemi Adetiba’s The Wedding Party as Nollywood’s highest-grossing film. Two years later, she kicked off what would become a run with Battle on Buka Street, which earned 668 million naira. Then came the breakthrough year. December 2023’s A Tribe Called Judah made 122 million naira in under two weeks before steamrolling to a staggering 1.4 billion naira total. Her follow-up, Everybody Loves Jenifa, pushed even further, reaching 1.8 billion naira. The cultural impact is undeniable. In 2023 alone, the Nigerian box office generated 7.24 billion naira, and Akindele claimed nearly 20% of that pie. Film after film, record after record, the pattern holds: Akindele is undefeated.

These staggering numbers don’t happen by chance. Akindele’s reign rests on a mix of relatability, strategic brilliance, and timing. Her characters strike a nerve. Jenifa, the village girl with outsized dreams and an interesting accent, became a television sensation in 2008 because audiences saw themselves in her struggles and ambitions. When she’s not mining melodramatic relatability, the filmmaker is crafting humor that makes her audience laugh and giggle like school girls or exploring family dynamics. But her secret weapon is mastery marketing. Akindele creates cultural moments that leave other filmmakers scrambling to keep up; her campaigns setting the industry standard for creativity and reach. Then there’s her timing. Akindele has essentially claimed December as her own, capitalizing on the festive season when families gather to watch films together and diaspora audiences return home. This strategy has sparked healthy competition—Toyin Abraham’s Alakada: Bad and Boujee earned half a billion naira competing against Everybody Loves Jenifa last year, becoming Nollywood’s fifth highest-grossing film.

That tradition continues this year with her next release. Despite its meta-sounding name, Behind the Scenes is indeed the official title, a clever Akindele choice that keeps audiences guessing. True to form, it’s produced by Funke Akindele Network, with Akindele directing and starring at the center. The cast reads like the usual Nollywood dream team: Iyabo Ojo, Tobi Bakre, Kunle Remi, Uche Montana, Ibrahim Chatta, and Uzor Arukwe, alongside Big Brother Naija stars Wanni and Handi. The poster places Akindele front and center, hinting she’s once again anchoring the story. And while the plot remains tightly under wraps, the title itself teases a drama of shadows and revelations, sparking speculation about what’s really happening behind the scenes.

Yet the terrain has shifted since her last theatrical triumph. With Netflix, Prime Video, and Showmax reshaping viewing habits—and newer entrants like Kava, Circuits, and EbonyLife ON Plus crowding the market—the industry looks different than it did at the height of her last theatrical triumph. But if history is any guide, Akindele has a knack for cutting through the noise with the kind of marketing blitz and cultural resonance that few others can replicate. Regardless of the outcome, “Behind the Scenes” is already shaping up to be another cultural phenomenon. If it surpasses Akindele’s current box office records, it cements her as an unstoppable force. If it falls short, it becomes the film that finally found her ceiling, a milestone in its own right. Either way, history will be made. December can’t come soon enough.