Nollywood Movies Might Need Under 25 Cast To Attract Young Nigerians – Niyi Akinmolayan

Popular Nollywood producer, Niyi Akinmolayan has jumped on social media to ask what citizens want from Nigerian movies.

He recently had his say on his Twitter handle, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, most young people aren’t into Nollywood like they are into Nigerian music, and he wonders if things will change if movies feature very young casts.

Niyi added that he would love to know what the industry is not doing right, even if they aren’t capable of shooting movies like Spiderman or Avengers yet.

His words, ”I wonder if a film with 90% cast under 25 get tons of young people to the cinema. Because to be honest, these kids aren’t into Nollywood the way they are into naija music. What do young people like to see from Nollywood. NOTE: we can’t do avengers or Spiderman yet o.”

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.