Nollywood actor, Femi Branch, has slammed cinemas in Nigeria, accusing them of favouritism to the detriment of many filmmakers.
He said some cinemas give more priority to certain movies over others and even promote them, which shouldn’t be the duty of such establishments.
The House of Ga’a actor said he noticed this when he participated in a Meet and Greet at the cinema where Alakada: Bad and Boujee, a film by actress Toyin Abraham, was screening.
“I don’t see anybody talking about it in the industry and I know that people know what is happening. I’m talking about cinemas promoting one film above the other. It’s so bad that some cinema staff wear the T-shirts of some films. They remove the cards for some films from the counter and put those for others there,” he said.
He further stated, “Some cinemas tell people what movie to watch. Some cinemas change the schedule of some movies to favour another movie, and cajole fans to see a movie different from what was advertised to screen at a particular schedule.”
He revealed that there have been reports of fights between cinema staff and movie lovers over the issue, especially in December 2024.
“Cinemas are to give you screen time. But when they see that another film is popular, they will take your screen time and give it to the popular one.
“It is not the business of the cinema to tell anybody what to watch. It is not the business of a cinema to market a film for a producer over another producer,” he added.
Femi Branch lamented that fellow actors and producers only air their grievances at movie locations for fear of being blacklisted.
According to him, such fear will only lead to hunger, adding that those behind this illegality thrive on the victims’ silence.
“A lot of producers are burning inside, they can’t speak because people are afraid of being blacklisted,” he said.
Calling for an end to the illegality, he said, “Is it until producers start committing suicide or start dying of depression or police start arresting them for owing people they collected money from to produce films?”
He lamented that while stakeholders were still battling piracy and streaming platforms, cinemas were also joining the list of oppressors of filmmakers.
His words corroborate complaints aired on social media by Toyin Abraham and Mercy Aigbe who both have movies currently screening in cinemas.
