Posted By Doherty Joseph
On Oct 30, 2011 at 03:15pm
On Saturday October 7, stakeholders and the heavyweights in the make-believe industry in Nigeria, the big players in the music industry in Nigeria, and other entertainment lovers converged at the Muson Centre, Onikan, for the premiere of the much awaited and highly hyped flick from Funke Akindele.
Stars like Banky W, Wizkid, Eldee The Don, Denrele Edun, Eniola Badmus, and many others all came out to support Funke Akindele’s premiere of her latest film, which makes it the third as a producer. First lady of Lagos State, Mrs Abimbola Fashola was also a guest at the event.
The premiere also marked the official release date for the film to be shown at the three cinemas in Lagos; Silverbird Cinemas, Genesis Cinemas, both on the Island, and Ozone Cinemas, which is on the mainland.
The Return of Jenifa, was a sequel to Jenifa, the first produced work from Funke. From there on, Jenifa became the name Funke became to be called afterwards. For many, they have anticipated the release of the film, which was meant to be seen at the cinemas. The premiere of the film at Muson was very successful amid pomp and pageantry.
But confirmed information reaching us indicates that the movie might not stay longer than expected at the cinemas. The reason for this we learnt is connected with the fact that the sponsor of the film, Alhaji Akeem Olatunji Balogun, who is known in the movie marketing business as Olasco, will not benefit from the recent deal she had with Funke.
His movie marketing company, Olasco Films and Records Nigeria Ltd, is the marketing company for the film. Our close source reliably disclosed to us that Olasco is contemplating on taking the movie away from the cinemas.
“The movie will not stay long as expected in the cinemas, Olasco invested heavily in The Return of Jenifa, he was never thinking of taking the film to the cinemas, but Funke insisted on taking it there for premiere and consequently, showing it at the cinemas also,” our source told us.
Olasco has been the major sponsor of all Funke’s films. Jenifa part one and two, Omo Ghetto part one and two, and now The Return of Jenifa, which is a sequel to Jenifa, the film that shot Funke into a sudden limelight.
When we asked if Olasco never signed an agreement with Funke, in terms of percentage from the cinema proceeds as the marketer and sponsor of the film, our source said, “that is where the problem is, Olasco did the film for him to sell on VCD and not for cinemas market.”.................
“For him to recoup his spent money on the movie, he needs to pull the movie away from the cinemas and release it under his marketing outfit on VCD, this way, he can make his money back. This development is really disturbing him,” our source said further.For now, the movie is reported to have grossed about 10million naira at the cinemas.
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