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.
The record-breaking screening took place on Saturday, September 26, with a Guinness World Records official confirming that 51,000 viewers constituted the qualifying attendance for the largest audience at a film screening in a single location.
Organisers had targeted 50,000 viewers in an attempt to surpass the previous record of 43,624 people, set in 2015 during a screening of the Filipino film Felix Manalo at the Philippine Arena.
Although Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat reportedly said 64,000 people attended the event, the Guinness qualifying figure was based on viewers who remained at the screening from the beginning to the end of the film.
The event attracted thousands of movie lovers, with long queues reported around Tafawa Balewa Square as attendees arrived from the afternoon. The gates opened at about 2pm, followed by a red-carpet session before the main screening, which began at about 7pm.
The announcement of the record was met with cheers, celebrations and fireworks at the venue. FilmOne, the distributor of Black Market, also confirmed the achievement, describing it as a new world record for the largest audience gathering for a movie screening.
The screening also featured music, food and games, while several Nollywood personalities attended, including Lateef Adedimeji, Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Kunle Remi, Stan Nze, Gabriel Afolayan and Kunle Afolayan.
Black Market was directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay and co-written by Gimsay and Abdul Tijani-Ahmed. The film stars Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Lateef Adedimeji, Omowunmi Dada, Scarlet Gomez, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok, Ibrahim Yekini, popularly known as Itele D Icon, and Uzor Arukwe, among others.
The crime thriller follows five women involved in a cross-border smuggling operation amid fuel scarcity and economic hardship. Their situation takes a dramatic turn after the daughter of one of the women is kidnapped.
The film was produced by Rixel Studios, Signet Ring Studios and FilmOne Studios, with Switch Visuals Production involved in the record-breaking event. The screening also received support from the Lagos State Government through the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, alongside corporate partners.
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