Nollywood’s Black Market Breaks Guinness World Record With 51,000-Person Screening
Nollywood film Black Market has set a Guinness World Record for the largest attendance at a film screening in a single location, after 51,000 people watched the crime thriller at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos, on Saturday.
“A new record has been set!!!! Together, we have made history 51k of you showed up for us to break this record! My heart is full & I’m short of words,” Omowunmi Dada, who was also Executive Producer of the movie, wrote in an X post celebrating the achievement.
In another post, the actress and executive producer declared: “We are officially Guinness World Record Holders”, as the scale of the turnout became clear. Her excitement was echoed by fellow Nollywood star Funke Akindele, who congratulated her, writing: “Congratulations dear. Nollywood to the world.”
Lead actor Lateef Adedimeji also celebrated the milestone in a post on X. “Last night, history looked like 51,000 people… Standing before that crowd as the lead actor of BLACK MARKET movie was one of the most humbling experiences of my career.”
Thanking the producers, director and cast, Adedimei added: “Records may be broken, but moments like this live forever.”
The record-breaking screening took place on Saturday, September 26, at TBS, where thousands of movie lovers gathered for the premiere of Black Market. Organisers had targeted 50,000 simultaneous viewers for the Lagos event, aiming to surpass the previous record of 43,624 people, set in 2015 during a screening of the Filipino film Felix Manalo at the Philippine Arena.
The turnout turned what could have been a conventional movie premiere into a large-scale public event, with long queues reported around TBS as attendees arrived. Gates opened at 2pm, with the main screening scheduled for 7pm. The event also featured music, food, games and other entertainment activities.
Guinness World Records’ verification process also introduced an important distinction in the final attendance figure. While Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat announced that 64,000 people attended the event, Guinness World Records based its official figure on viewers who remained from the beginning to the end of the movie, resulting in the recognised attendance of 51,000.
Directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay and produced by Nora Awolowo, with Omowunmi Dada and Nicole Ofoegbu among the production team, Black Market – co-written by Gimsay and Abdul Tijani-Ahmed – 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 Dada alongside Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Lateef Adedimeji, Scarlet Gomez, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok, Itele D Icon, and Uzor Arukwe, among others. The screening was organised by Rixel Studios in collaboration with FilmOne Studios, Signet Ring Studios, and Switch Visuals Production.
For Dada, who is both part of the cast and an executive producer, the record represents more than a successful premiere. Before the screening, she explained that the team wanted to create something “more iconic” than a conventional premiere — an event that could go beyond Nollywood and serve as a cultural statement for Nigerian creatives and young people.
As Dada put it in her post on X on Saturday night: “Together. we have made history.”
