Nollywood crime thriller Black Market has broken the Guinness World Record for the largest attendance at a film screening in a single location, with 51,000 people watching the movie at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos. The record-breaking screening took place on Saturday, September 26, as thousands of movie lovers……
Nollywood crime thriller Black Market has broken the Guinness World Record for the largest attendance at a film screening in a single location, with 51,000 people watching the movie at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos.
The record-breaking screening took place on Saturday, September 26, as thousands of movie lovers gathered at the Lagos venue for the highly anticipated premiere.
Guinness World Records confirmed the feat after the screening, officially recognising 51,000 viewers as the qualifying attendance for the record, according to Channels Television.
The figure was based on viewers who remained at the screening from the beginning to the end of the movie. Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, had earlier announced that 64,000 people attended the event.
Organisers had targeted 50,000 simultaneous viewers, seeking to surpass the previous record of 43,624 people, set in 2015 during the screening of the Filipino film Felix Manalo at the Philippine Arena in the Philippines.
The event began with the opening of the gates at 2pm, while the red carpet started at about 3pm ahead of the main screening at 7pm. Music, food, games and other entertainment activities were also held at the venue.
Channels Television reported that long queues formed around Tafawa Balewa Square earlier in the day as movie lovers arrived for the event. Among those who attended were Hamzat, Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Toke Benson, and Nollywood stars including Lateef Adedimeji, Kunle Remi, Stan Nze, Linda Ejiofor, Gabriel Afolayan and Kunle Afolayan.
Hamzat, in a post on X in the early hours of Sunday, said he attended the screening and described the gathering as an inspiring demonstration of Nigerians coming together around creativity.
“I was at Tafawa Balewa Square this evening for the screening of Black Market, an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the largest audience at a film screening,” he wrote.
He said the turnout demonstrated the potential of Nigeria’s creative economy and called for continued support for young creators seeking to build businesses in the country.
The film was directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay and co-written by Gimsay and Abdul Tijani-Ahmed. It follows five women involved in a cross-border smuggling operation whose lives are thrown into turmoil after the daughter of one of them is kidnapped.
The film stars Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Lateef Adedimeji, Omowunmi Dada, Scarlet Gomez, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok, Itele D Icon and Uzor Arukwe, among others. It was produced in collaboration with Rixel Studios, FilmOne Studios, Signet Ring Studios and Switch Visuals Production.
Speaking ahead of the screening, Dada, who is also an executive producer on the film, said the team deliberately chose the Guinness World Record attempt instead of a conventional premiere.
She said the idea was to create something “more iconic” that would go beyond Nollywood and serve as a cultural statement for Lagos, Nigerian creatives and young Nigerians.
Dada also described the production journey as stressful but rewarding, saying the record attempt had been part of the project’s plan from the outset.
The announcement of the record at TBS was met with cheers, celebrations and fireworks from the crowd.
FilmOne, the film’s distributor, also announced the achievement on social media, describing the event as a world record for the largest audience gathering for a movie screening.
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