21st March, 2014
Funsho Arogundade
Fast rising Nollywood star-turned-producer, Ivie Okujaye, has promised that in spite of low patronage of Nollywood movies, she has set a target of N30 million for her debut movie, Make A Move at the box office when finally released on 6 June.
Ivie stated that she is taking up that challenge to restore some pride for Nollywood and its practitioners.
“I heard Nollywood movies haven’t had it so good at the cinemas in recent times, even cinema houses seem wary to give Nollywood movies much attention and space. Make A Move is set to redefine that. Our target is to gross as much as N30 million naira from the Box Office; that is our minimum target,” Ivie boasted.
According to Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards 2013 Trailblazer of the Year award winner, she knows it is a daunting task but has strong conviction that the movie will make that figure and earn some respect for Nollywood.
“If things are the way they should be in this country, Hollywood movies should not sell more than Nollywood movies. This is because, if we take Nollywood movies abroad, it would not sell more than Hollywood movies. So we need to let them know that this is home and we know our people more than they do,” she said.
P.M.NEWS Entertainment Cafe observed that before now, only a significant number of Nollywood movies have earned commendable credibility at the box office with impressive figures. They include movies like Ije, Figurine, Anchor Baby, Last Flight To Abuja, Mirror Boy, The Return of Jenifa and more recently, The Meeting, have sold out and in most cases dwarfed Hollywood movies at the time.
But after The Meeting almost all Nollywood movies in Cinema have not had impressive outings at the cinema. And many reasons have been adduced to the poor sales with some putting the blame on the cinema while others blame the producers of the movies.
“I have to admit the fact that some movies that went to cinemas let our people down. They were disappointed. We took cognizance of that fact when we were introducing Make A Move and because it is the kind of movie you will talk about for a long time after the first showing. That is why we believe it will meet the set target and even more without any hassle,” Ivie explained.
Make A Move, which has heavy musical and dance slant, stars 2Face Idibia, Omawumi, Majid Michel, Tina Mba, Wale Adebayo, Ivie Okujaye, Beverly Naya, and VJ Denrele Edun.
The movie, directed by Niyi Akinmolayan, is a story of two sisters who found dance as an escape route from a non-pleasant past. They must dare to make a move to get to the land of their dreams.
Make A Move is the kind of story every young person can relate to. It is a story of self-belief, doubt and fight against an unfavourable environment. This story is told in a way that shows commitment to excellence and attention to details. Every young person out there will be proud of Ivie when the movie is released,” said Adebayo, popularly known as Sango.