Nollywood has set a new Guinness World Record after more than 51,000 people gathered at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos to watch the crime thriller Black Market in a single-location screening.
The record-breaking screening took place on Saturday, September 26, as thousands of movie lovers turned up at the Lagos landmark for what had initially been planned as an attempt to surpass the existing record of 43,624 viewers, set in 2015 during a screening of the Filipino film Felix Manalo at the Philippine Arena.
Guinness World Records confirmed 51,000 qualifying viewers after the screening, with the figure based on people who remained at the venue from the beginning to the end of the film. Although Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat announced that 64,000 people attended the event, the official qualifying figure was 51,000.
The event drew long queues around Tafawa Balewa Square, with gates opening at 2pm ahead of a red-carpet session and the main screening later in the evening. Music, food, games and other entertainment activities were also organised around the screening, turning the premiere into a large-scale public event.
Black Market is directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay and co-written by Gimsay and Abdul Tijani-Ahmed. The film follows five women involved in a cross-border smuggling operation whose lives are thrown into turmoil after the daughter of one of them is kidnapped.
The cast includes Lateef Adedimeji, Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Omowunmi Dada, Scarlet Gomez, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok, Ibrahim Yekini, popularly known as Itele D Icon, and Uzor Arukwe, among others. The production was led by Rixel Studios, Signet Ring Studios and FilmOne Studios, with FilmOne handling distribution.
With the official confirmation of more than 51,000 qualifying viewers, Black Market has now turned its premiere into a record-setting moment for Nigerian cinema, bringing together tens of thousands of people around a single film and creating a major milestone for Nollywood’s growing global profile.
