As Piracy Hits Toyin Abraham, Funke Akindele

Ferdinand  Ekechukwu

Nigeria’s film industry is grappling with rising cases of piracy. Producers and creative in the film industry are regularly being plagued with the piracy struggle. Blockbuster movies like ‘Blood Sisters,’ produced by Mo Abudu, ‘King of Boys’ and the sequel, ‘Return of the King’, by Kemi Adetiba, have all had same experience.

Among other Nollywood productions, including Femi Adebayo’s acclaimed movie ‘Jagun Jagun’, were not spared. Just recently, actress, Toyin Abraham, was hit by the piracy bug. ‘Malaika’, her latest movie which is still showing at the cinemas was reported to have been pirated.

The incident led to the arrest of five suspects connected with the piracy of the film. Toyin in the course of the incident disclosed that nefarious act resulted in her having panic attacks and frequent hospital visits at various times, claiming that she spent about N500 million on the said film released last December. The figure raised eyebrows.

She also hinted how severe her situation was, stating that a link sent to her contained her movie and another one, which appeared to be Funke Akindele’s latest work, ‘A Tribe Called Judah’. Incidentally, there have been reports of leakage of the movie since the second week at the cinemas.

Produced, and directed by Funke Akindele and Adeoluwa Owu respectively, the movie had been leaked online. According to reports, the HD version of the action drama was posted on a telegram channel, making it free for all members to download.  

It is believed the act could affect the overall box office sales of the movie which has been tremendously strong since its big-screen debut.

The movie which is the highest grossing Nollywood movie of all-time began its theatrical run on 15th December, 2023, and grossed over N1 billion within its first three weeks at the Nigerian box office. Both Funke Akindele and Toyin Abraham are among the highest grossing Nollywood movie producers in the last three years.