For the longest time, the saying “Never judge a book by its cover” didn’t quite apply to Nollywood movies because you could, in fact, judge and critique the film, and you wouldn’t even have to go watch it.
But to say the poster game hasn’t come a long way is to deny the significant growth that has enveloped the industry in the last decade.
A chaotic past
I can’t find a better word to describe past Nollywood movie posters than “sensational”, and to be fair, I get the hustle. We’re talking the late 1990s and early 2000s; the industry was only just picking up. Filmmakers and film consumers didn’t have the luxury of digital streaming platforms. Cinema culture was barely existent in Nigeria, save for occasional viewings at the National Theatre in Lagos.
Aggressive marketing was the only way to sell your movies, and when you narrow in further, you’ll arrive at sensational posters. The average consumer only had access to movies via video club rentals or purchase of cassettes, and much later on, compact discs.
If you wanted their coins, your poster had to be three things: Flashy, star-studded and with a title that tells 70% of the story. All three factors helped consumers make on-the-spot decisions to rent or buy your film. And boy, did the movie marketers understand the assignment? Let’s take a look at the evidence.
Source: Alamy
Power tussle between village chiefs using jazz to make each other’s lives miserable.
You already know there’s a jolly-just-come story about Nkem Owoh’s first visit to London.
What other pointer do you need to know that there’s an old woman and her pet in the movie?
Source: New African Magazine
You already know there’s a plane involved and some characters make their last flight to Abuja.
Let’s get it, Nollywood
It’s 2023, and everything good has come just like the novelist, Sefi Atta, predicted. The budget is bigger, the acting is better, the pictures are cleaner, and the movie posters? Well, how do they say it now, “Seeing is believing”
If there are doubts as to how much growth the industry has had, I raise you the official movie poster for Tunde Kelani’s 2021 biopic, Ayinla.
A one-man silhouette poster for a movie with a reported production budget of ₦50million? The marketers at 51, Iweka road, Onitsha could never. The movie went on to gross over ₦91 million.
It was a risk on the part of movie executives but also an impressive nod to the designers who’re pushing the needle. Just take a look at these receipts.
Source: Instagram/@kaizenkreativ_
Source: Twitter/@kaizenkreativ_/@tomiwale_
Like Kelani, more Nollywood filmmakers have embraced minimalism in their approach to movie posters, and when there’s a need to go loud with a bang, it’s still a far cry from “our chaotic past”.
