Netflix Has Cancelled Previously Commissioned Projects In Nigeria – Kunle Afolayan

Netflix has reportedly exited the Nigerian market as the country’s economy records further collapse.

Nollywood filmmaker, Kunle Afolayan seemingly confirmed this as he revealed that Netflix has cancelled previously commissioned projects.

According to the streaming giant, its Nigerian Originals have been cancelled, and there have been cases where the film studios had no electricity and had to rely on generators on set.

Officials added that the worsening economic situation under President Bola Tinubu made the decision inevitable.

An official said, “We’re exiting the Nigerian market. We’ve lost too many paying subscribers, and the exchange rate of naira against the American dollar also did not help us in any way.”

WOW.

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.