By By Habeeb Ibrahim
Nollywood film Black Market has set a new Guinness World Records title after 51,000 people watched the movie at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos.
The record-breaking screening took place on Saturday, September 26, as the producers sought to surpass the previous record of 43,624 people for the largest attendance at a film screening.
Guinness World Records confirmed 51,000 as the qualifying attendance after the screening, according to reports from the event.
The figure was lower than the total number of people reported to have attended the event. Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat reportedly put the overall attendance at about 64,000, but the Guinness World Records figure was based on viewers who qualified under the rules for the record.
The previous record of 43,624 was set in 2015 during a screening of the Filipino film Felix Manalo at the Philippine Arena in Ciudad de Victoria, Philippines.
The Black Market screening was organised by Rixel Studios in collaboration with FilmOne Studios, Signet Ring Studios and Switch Visuals Production.
The film, directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay and written by Gimsay and Abdul Tijani-Ahmed, stars Lateef Adedimeji, Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Ibrahim Yekini, Omowunmi Dada, Scarlet Gomez, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok and Uzor Arukwe, among others.
The crime thriller follows five women involved in a cross-border smuggling operation whose activities are disrupted after the daughter of one of them is kidnapped.
The Guinness World Records announcement came during the event, with the confirmation triggering celebrations at TBS.
The 51,000 qualifying viewers gave the Nigerian production a margin of more than 7,000 people over the previous record.
The achievement adds a Guinness World Records title to a Nigerian film production following the large-scale screening organised as part of the movie’s premiere in Lagos.
