HALF OF A YELLOW SUN GROSS N280 MILLION...IN NIGERIAN CINEMAS

The worldwide release of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ has generated two hundred and eighty million naira (N280,000,000) from the cinema, TV sales rights, online viewing and in-flight viewing. The movie, which generated a lot of public debate after its release, was suspended by NFVCB in April will be released across 17 Nigerian cinemas come Friday, August 1. The journey of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ to Nigerian cinema has not been all rosy, as the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) refused to classify the movie in a move that some people felt was political, while NFVCB insisted that some aspects of the movie could incite unrest. After a lot of meetings, intrigues and public outcry which attracted international attention, the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board eventually classified the movie and gave the go ahead for a cinema release. The movie which had been released in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand has so far generated over #280,000,000 and this is according to a source close to the producer. The total figure came to about one million pounds. The movie which will be released come August 1 across Nigeria is expected to set a new box office record in Nigeria since the producer, author, and director are all from Nigeria. Keen watchers are interested to see if HOAYS will beat the Box office record of over N100 million set by ‘Avengers.’ ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’, is set in the time of the Biafra War and is the story of love, hate, lust, greed, jealousy and forgiveness. The movie features British-Nigerian BAFTA award winner and Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor, BAFTA award winner Thandie Newton and other A-list actors including, Genevieve Nnaji. The movie would be distributed in Nigeria by FilmOne Distribution.