“Owambe Thieves” has made an impressive debut, grossing ₦76 million in its opening weekend.
The comedy, directed by Adeoluwa Owu, has earned the second-highest opening of 2025 among Nollywood films, trailing only “Sinners”, which earned ₦111 million, including Thursday previews.
The film follows a pair of cunning thieves who target unsuspecting revelers at Nigeria’s famous Owambe parties. Its strong opening signals a promising start for Nollywood this year, especially after “Sinners” set the bar with its own remarkable debut.
Combined, “Owambe Thieves” and “Sinners” represent the closest the Nigerian box office has come to having two ₦100 million-plus openers in one season. This is the closest Nollywood has come since the Valentine’s Day weekend, when “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Reel Love” debuted with ₦137 million and ₦99 million, respectively. The continued success of these films highlights a positive shift in the box office performance for Nigerian cinema.
The Easter holiday proved to be a lucrative one for the industry, with the top ten films collectively grossing ₦330 million, surpassing the ₦307 million from the Valentine’s Day weekend.
Meanwhile, “Radio Voice” saw a drop from second to seventh place in its second week, grossing ₦15 million, a respectable 31% decline.
Read our review of “Owambe Thieves” here.
Top Ten Highest-Grossing Movies of the Easter Weekend (According to Nigerian Box Office on X)
- “Sinners”: ₦106.2 million (Weekend 1)
- “Owambe Thieves”: ₦76 million (Weekend 1)
- “Makemation”: ₦32.9 million (Weekend 1)
- “Aso Ebi Diaries”: ₦27.7 million (Weekend 1)
- “Monecraft”: ₦20.3 million (Weekend 3)
- “Labake Olododo”: ₦19.9 million (Weekend 4)
- “Radio Voice”: ₦15.3 million (Weekend 2)
- “King of Kings”: ₦11.4 million (Weekend 2)
- “The Amateur”: ₦7.2 million (Weekend 2)
“Family Brouhaha”: ₦7.1 million (Weekend 2)