Moses Babatope

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It's great to be here. Excited that this is happening in Africa, for Africa by Africans. Thank you very much, sir, for that representation of what is great about us and the amazing potential that we have. And I hope that this will be the first of many important conversations, but beyond conversations, it will be a platform for us to have deliberate, you know, steps, actual little steps that will lead to the expansion of cinemas and cinema-going and cinema business on the continent.

I'm going to go to a presentation to just give you an idea of the West African theatrical space. and a lot of these numbers are from, um, they are validated and verified by, from ComScore. I'll do my best to go through it and not bore you all. I know there's been a lot of information overload in the past few days, but I think it's important for you to get a snapshot of what is going on in the sector.

I think what has been missing for so many years is a lot of people are still not very sure of the compelling business case for cinema, for cinema business, for film business on the continent, in the continent, and what's going on in the various countries that make up the continent. So please do your best to pay some attention to this,  as we go along. You would have, we would have conversations, and you'll see that there's immense potential.

And before we already have, I think we're not doing too badly. I'm going to go through a number of these, just what makes up the angle from West African film space,  and over a few of West Africa cinemas, uh, box office summary of 2022, like I said.  For those in the sector, the platform Comscore has validated all of these numbers, and they are available to check. So there's nothing here that is exaggerated. It is as we get the real-time for the settlements.

Box office update for 2023, um, the total cinema locations that we have, highest-costing titles, Nollywood versus Hollywood. We spotlighted that. And I think in the Ghanaian context,  there are also conversations to be had around how local contents can drive, you know, uh, cinema business and the box office in, uh, in the various, uh, independent markets, factors that have affected, whether we like it or not globally.

 

There have been challenges in this theatrical sector, more so in Africa, where there is little or no institutional support. So we also go to a number of those factors. Trust me, it's not a lecture. I might have reached through it, but I just want to show you a number of these things. And we did a ten-year projection of what we think, um,  we, I think we did that in 2018, 2019. I'll check, where we think, cinema and cinema box office potential will be, and then we believe that collaboration and partnerships are what is gonna take the industry forward.

But maybe this slants a bit more Nigerian. It's because of the activity that's going on in Nigeria. It represents 92% of the West African box office. There's so much local production activity there. So there is,  I mean it's not a bias, it's just a reality of things. This is the anglophone space, uh, right in, in, in the anglophone space like, um, Mister Andani might have mentioned, there are over 300 million people.

But as far as the cinema business is concerned, there are only, we will have cinemas in three of them, I don't know what 16 or 17 West African countries, but we have cinemas in Nigeria, Ghana, and Liberia, and you can see the splits in terms of population per location and per screens. It is just grossly on the screen as, as you can see from, from, from there, and we've, we've highlighted like the English-speaking territories, um, the francophone territories are not represented here, the francophone territories do have cinemas.

We're still collecting data on them, but we cannot keep data that we do not fully have some kind of validation on, and in terms of the overview of Nigerian cinemas, most specifically, there is an umbrella.association called the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria

It is the only trade association for cinema exhibitors on the continent.

Its work is on advocacy on cinema business best practices and ensuring that at least there's a standardization of the cinema business operations and if you just look at the number of logos there, Nigeria has just over 70 cinemas, 40 of those are independent cinemas, that is one cinema locations, so there's an appetite by independent investors, people are enthusiasts of the industry to set up their cinemas.

And I, when I go to the next slide, you will see how the market share of these cinemas is basically um laid out for those of us in the industry.

 

The word DCI compliance is almost like the standard term of how we project the films in the cinema, so DCI compliance is a very very important factor; it's our ability to essentially play Hollywood films, which depending on who you speak to yeah, I mean, it's great to play Hollywood films, we want to be playing more and more African films so can we come up with our own African compliance, you know more affordable, you know technology systems to play in our films that could lead to more growth in our box office.

And this is the layout if you just look at the 2023 admissions and average ticket price and box office number today just checking on the exchange rate website I think it's about 850 nairas to um uh to $1 so if you look at um this numbers we're just um shy of $10 million um in terms of the box office so far uh in in in in Nigeria.

The admissions are fortunately down. it's been very challenging in the space and we've had to be a bit drastically revised or revise ticket prices to about 25% more than what it was in 2022 but the box office is up we're happy about that and then just if you look at on the right side there in terms of the market share Filmhouse which is the company I represent here that's the market share um the independence that I said.

There's a growing number of them. 30%, they round represent the biggest block in terms of box office, um um contribution. And I think we're gonna keep seeing it grow in them as local box office, um local content, and improve in the market so year on year box office and um box office numbers in terms of the um currency um. So, in terms of the financial, is up or in terms of the admission or attendance or tickets so that's down um, and the number of factors for that not least the inflationary environment and for example what Hollywood has gone through with the uh slits of the strikes that's happened with the association that's why we cannot afford as a continent to be dependent on Hollywood alone um. And this for this is basically the historical verse of 2023 and again important things that I'm very happy to share um with um in uh conference or Summit participants uh so that I'm not happy to see you read uh so so much going along.

The story has been one of growth really if you just look at the box office uh numbers from 2016 to 2023 and these numbers are inclusive of Ghana and Liberia, this is not just Nigeria, this is the West African number and it's been steady growth across the number of cinemas across admissions until if you notice 2020 where we had a pandemic alright. I think a lot of people fail to highlight the twin impact of the pandemic and some of the global issues that we've had Russia versus Ukraine now we have Israel and Palestine, you know and the attendant effects on you know uh productions and the number of things that come also that that we're dependent on and and also our macroeconomic challenges in our various countries, all of that is affecting a sector that people already perceive as when when you talk about cinema they already perceive it as a bit luxurious probably not you know something that is important in other parts of the world is a lot more mass market we're still just building the culture but all of this all of this challenges exist yet there's a resilience yet there's a growth story and if you also notice another issue we have everything is dollarized these days I don't know why um there if you look at the dollar perspective then it becomes questionable but in terms of Naira Kobo there is a growth story so what are the factors that have affected I've mentioned some of them in in in the last slide for example in Nigeria lots of subsidy literally um took inflation to double digits about 26% at a time it's calm down we have you know seasonal fast for our Muslim brothers um we floated the exchange rate for example in 2022 as well and I got eight months the students wear you know um um the hat that strikes and the students represent a very important segment of those that go to seven so there's been challenges everywhere in Ghana for example we've not had a lot of new cinemas emerge over the last you know four or five years I can't be blamed when we've had a pandemic you know and it was it was it took longer to open.

So how have the films fared in 2023? These are the top films as you can see. The top films globally are the top films in Nigeria and West Africa. Um, John Wick, and um, Fast and Furious by our colleagues at Silver Bird, who distributed the top three Hollywood films there. And you can see that Barbie has done some very good numbers as well in West Africa, and then it's on the main as we can the notable films, very strong in Nigeria, uh, and those are the films that I've I've also done, consider the discrepancy in terms of the Nollywood and the Hollywood films in terms of their crosses but you know it's it promises to. This December there is a big big lineup of strong Nollywood titles so those are the films, so what I always get filmmakers to look at when they're looking at this presentation is what kind of films are working. So you can see for the Hollywood top 3 action named talents, you can see people turn up for them in West Africa. Barbie is an exception, it was a global phenomenon and it also shows you what is also possible in terms of the prospects on the continent. So do we have for example a body-like franchise that we can push on the continent that is known on the continent? I always see all of those things as opportunities. We found out as well last year um, uh, that the epic genre if done well in Nigeria is a very very strong genre and it's Common to do well in streaming. And we did win this year.

Orisha which was also released in select US cinemas and we found that this is a gem I believe it came from the Ghanaian perspective I mean the wider West African perspective some ethics stories have not been told and it will be great to see how a cadet epic will do in Nigeria and vice versa you know I think these are opportunities that we shouldn't miss out as we um you know frame the narrative of the opportunities on the continent um and in terms of the split.

This is how it looks.

So far in 2023, if you look at the total number of releases, Hollywood has always been very competitive against Nollywood in terms of the number of releases, and number of titles made. Look at 2022, it is 68-32. So we release more. There's so much product. We release more Nollywood films than Hollywood films. In fact, we had to do that this year because of the strikes. Hollywood has been where in terms of box office, they still say that oh, Hollywood does more, Hollywood does more spectacle. And because a lot of the cinemas also do well in the open areas or charge higher ticket prices or have what we call premium screens, premium technologies, you will see that split of Hollywood. But the narrative is also if you look at 2023, 70 versus 30 is not a bad split for Nollywood. And again, it tells us that cinema is here to stay as long as we're going to fit in the right kind of products that people want to see um. I think that in the future I want to give you three to five years for 50-50 shares for sure. And we don't want and we don't want it to be in Nigeria only. And I think I need to stress that. And I said that on the opening day. We don't want it to be a Nigerian phenomenon. We want it to be an African story and especially that I want to say that at one point in the year 20 between 2014 and 2013 and 2016, Ghanaian films dominated Nigerian cinema. we'll try and publish a paper to justify this one. I think I said it when I mentioned Shelley Finnpong's Perfect Picture,  House of Gold by Yvonne Nelson, Devil in the Detail, Six Hours to Christmas. There were a number of them that kept coming and they were watched, they were viewed, and they made money and for some reason, it evaporated and it told us they were sobering as well.

And that's how I met her. That's how I met Juliet as well, you know, and I know with two chances then the audiences reacted to them. We're willing to pay premiums for them. For some reason, it went. So I want to challenge Ghanaian brothers and sisters that whatever took place just less than a decade ago is still very much possible, and we need to find ways to resuscitate and bring that back to sustain cinema, to sustain the local economy of film business and cinema is at the heart of it, you know. A lot of us keep talking and are excited about streamers, bless them, we love them. I have a great partnership with them; they pay and help to pay a lot of the bills, but they're not localized. A lot of them can get up today and go. The cinemas are here, they are for us, by us, you know, so it's so important that this cinema conversation is staying with a lot of you know and giving a lot of priority so I'm so glad that we're having the conversation and someone like his excellency the president was here to also show the importance that this is and I'm hoping that through his office we can also interact and also in other influential governments why cinema is very very important um in on the continent.

So what are the factors that have affected 2023? The fact that we must stand there and talk about 2023 with a box office that is higher than 2022 is miraculous. We don't have palates, we don't have subsidies, we don't have anything. We are the cinemas are taxed in multiple places; Nigeria has local government, and state governments, all of them have their levies, and federal governments have their levies. We were collecting in terms of tax deductions; it collected a total of about 18% at any given time at the box office. And then when you get a box of course you have to share it with the exhibitor. The exhibitor of the cinemas have to pay rent, have to pay salaries after paying service charges after my brother was doing here who represents the biggest cinema chain in South Africa and I'm sure the issues with real estate will not pass, it's continuous, so difficult you know  so that we're here and we can you know we can talk about 2023 that is positive is is is is a miracle and and and this is our projection it's very optimistic what we're looking at in 2020 it's still in fraction and we've based it on organic growth based on the growth that we've seen over the last you know five-seven years hopeful that at some point we'll get to pre-pandemic you know um numbers and it's still as you can see it's still  very conservative if we used to this exchange rate for Nigeria was to say in 2030 to be $20 million and that's one story we also want to tell we want to tell the story where with the right kind of partnership with the right kind of investments and to those in the room I'm hoping that we're having some investors and prospective people in the room that know people that know people about Africa that let's stop doing the trips for information exchange for networking let's do more delivery trips about how can we unlock the potential in Africa.

That number in 2013, nothing is stopping us from aiming for the West African market, aiming for a hundred million dollars. For example, in South Africa, if you need $100 million, there's no reason why I shouldn't be talking, and there's no reason why Africa should not be attaining $1 billion at the box office. We have the stories, we already dreaming, that's what I said, we already have in a framework so nobody's trying to do anything from scratch, you know  and it's so important that's why we are before this fight was for us to break up what can hundred million dollars do in of for the continent. We think when we're asking for give us another billion well give us another for structural money, a hundred million dollars can become the capitalist for you know for change on the continent and how do we what have we said this funds can go into we reckon that 133 um um four-screen locations can be built at $750,000 um and that will give us location and that will give us  I believe in 500 more screens and sorry I can't go through everything here but we just talked about the direct appointments  and we look at how we think the amount of money should be spread out again apologies that when I look like Nigeria gets a lot of the funds but when we're doing it from a place of what has been achieved already right and also what the population is saying and all of that and we believe that this can be transformational we're not saying handouts we're saying patient capital we're saying single-digit interest loans uh we're saying  can we find a way to give things to assembly plants in in Africa can we make Africa-specific type of projection and sound equipment but those are the kind of conversations that we want to have the staff duties the barriers to trade can we take them away can we have exports of cinema operations management within Africa those are the conversation and those are the ways we want to use or utilize the hundred million dollar in an investment um just not to kind of you know if you slide on cinema very important cinema have been a big gateway cinema and I answer the profile of films and then that helps on the expectation on other channels like the streamers believe it or not once your film does a certain amount of money in the box office it becomes really contested hardly contested by the streamers who are then willing to pick up and pay the premiums on it that's another compelling reason why we need cinemas to work for our for our top films very very important once that film has hit well on box office we have data that shows us that most box office hits literally 99% of them end up being streaming hits so it's also important and these are the various um um um channels that you know that exploit films after cinema and and again it's just a this is just a kind of just basically breaking down what I just said previously and and and more of that in terms of so even though we still complain that the distribution outlets are still narrow in number of them are still emerging um but it it's getting better and better once you've gone to cinema there are more opportunities to exploit your films and where are the opportunities sorry again Nigeria film space um technology cinema technology  marketing for example, we talk like people filming lifestyle, filming,  film food that there are opportunities there um um opportunities for state governments to get involved and build film cities there are so many number of opportunities of course film investment and um um um cinema investment opportunities collaboration and partnerships Hollywood's new lingo of salvation so that has been very very that has been Nigerian, it's been the Nigerian our story particularly in the last five to 10 years starting with the film called Wedding Party where four production companies came together that has that essentially give birth to almost like a new dawn for the Nollywood film industry and we think that if we're going to continue to see growth and interest in the market we're going to encourage collaborations and again it is the message it is the good news I want to bring to the Ghana film industry let's stop trying to out do each other, let's stop trying to look for just owning the stage alone, let's look for collaborative opportunities, let's look for like minds. it is the only way we can move the industry forward.

The biggest film we did was Battle on Booker Street last year at FilmOne Studios with Funke Akindele (Jennifer) and we had the highest-grossing film of all time, a Nollywood film of all time, by partnering with her.

We did the same with um um Toye Abraham and you see there, without bragging, we've kind of found a way of doing those partnerships, and I think over time with the level of success we've gotten, we can say without a doubt that it is the way to move the industry forward. Who are we,  the Film House group where I'm a humble co-founder? We have a cinema company called FilmHouse Cinemas, Film 1 Entertainment is the distribution company and also does application services for the streamers. Filmworks Studios is a creation and production company that also develops ideas and works with filmmakers and a production entity. Film House Plus is a version of streaming and also about college cinema subscription, so for those, we want to introduce a situation where you can pay one fee and go to cinemas as many times as you want um from Mondays to Fridays and get rewarded for doing that sandbox the physical production studio um Sequoia is a content financing um that is set to the kickoff next year so so we are essentially media conglomerate in the heart of Lagos Nigeria probably Nigeria but with a global outlook very very very much centric for the African continent um and I'm sure as we find that later on um we'll be also making some announcements um in our work with Ghana particularly um and yeah thank you. So these are various where our locations are in terms of cinemas and in terms of our outlook for the next from 2013 to where we are now and those are our partners. We work in IMAX. We have an exclusive partnership with IMAX, Expo Game, and VBOX um, and in terms of FilmOne again not to bore you because of the first partners and the studios that we represent and thank you very much for being a great audience.