A talent manager, @mrmautin (Mr. M) on Twitter, has made it clear that shooting a Nollywood cinema blockbuster without our A-list actors is possible.
Those of you who watch Nigerian movies would agree that many fans go to the cinemas to watch movies because it stars their favourite actors and actresses, true or false? In fact, most movie lovers in this part of the world just want to see the popular faces such as Destiny Etiko, Chinenye Nnebe, Ruth Kadiri, LizzyGold Onuwaje, Zubby Michael among others.
Not everyone pays particular attention to the actors who put in good performances but are unknown despite the storyline of the film EXCEPT there’s some hype or scandal surrounding such movies.
In fact, the Twitter user appeared to suggest that hardwork, great storyline and solid marketing campaign ought to be enough to sell a movie. However, how many unknown actors have millions of followers on social media to help publicise such Nollywood cinema blockbuster movies?
Read the tweet below:
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“Shooting a Nollywood cinema blockbuster without our Alist actors is possible. The real question here is can we do the hard work of telling & executing a great story & also do the harder work of putting together a solid marketing campaign to drive cinema attendance? Finding The Messiah would have still had the same wow effect it had without any known faces because the execution is solid. How many of our big film studios can take the risk of going that route???”
There were reactions.
@EditiEffiong: “I’d like to see a film that went this direction and succeeded.
PS: This narrative always makes like the top screen actors can’t bring performance, which is untrue.”
@madluv_ade: “Give the big names supporting roles to create a new class of A lists. There is simply no cutting out the big names if you intend to make profit. Lead roles should be selected strictly by ‘perfect fit’ no matter what.”
@TheonlyWillis: “Nothing is impossible where I come from. But I bet you, the amount of work and money you’ll spend… a face or two would save you the whole nine. Those guys bring something to the table. Fan base doesn’t just fall on people. Believe me.”
@thebunmilayo: “The number of times I have thought of this. While the reliance on the A-listers to drive business is valid, it needs to be cut down a bit. We can adopt a synergy of new and A-listers, such that the new take on lead roles and A’s take minor ones, till the new become known faces.”
@tutu_tobi: “WOMAN KING
Only Viola Davis and John Boyega are A-list actors.
The black British actors, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya actors are not even popular in their countries.
People would go the cinemas for movies made by Kemi Adetiba and Kunle Afolayan without A-list actors.”
@chineekol: “Seeing kdrama often, where you always have new faces entirely in the cast, made me think or even doubt the possibility in Nollywood.
Cause I think Nollywood producers use Alist actors to sell their movies… And then doubting the potency of the newbies.”
@ManuelZenyth: “I think it’s more of skepticism to test the waters in what seems like an uncharted strategy. The best we’ve seen is sprinkling Alist actors in the film even when it’s not a key role. Like you said, beyond faces and names, more can be done with solid stories and marketing.”
@ManuelZenyth: “It’s going to take a studio to take the risk for a big cinema project. With revenue as a fore focus, it will be considered uncertain and we can’t even blame the consumers cuz it’s what we made them used to. So they can always get used to something new…even if it won’t come easy”.
@JT_akinyemi: “I like the fact that you mentioned marketing campaign. Nollywood has based good marketing around A list actors. This is an awesome idea in a situation where directors had names for themselves and are trusted to deliver without having A-list cast members”.
@InnocentUsigbe: “Like you said, the story, execution and marketing has to be be top tier and a movie like that would really positively impact Nollywood”.
@BryanDossome: “Having a C-list actor put on an A-list performance while paying them C-list money while using the money saved on other aspects of promotion means doom for acting as a profession”.
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