Across Nigerian cinemas, box office statistics have shown audiences showing up not just to watch a film but to experience Michael. The nostalgic and powerful energy observed around the film since its release feels monumental in a way that is hard to ignore. It is a cultural moment Nollywood has been grasping at but never reaching.
For Nigerian filmmaker Blessing Uzzi, Michael’s historic audience reaction across cinemas triggered both admiration and a quiet observation. “Oh, if anything, I’ve learned that Nigerians do go to the cinema, it just depends on what they want to see. I know it’s Michael, but I’ve never seen crowds…back-to-back sold-out shows,” she said.
The film producer behind Call of My Life and Freedom Way identified young people as the biggest part of the film’s audience demographic, which she finds surprising. In hopes of such a replica in Nollywood, she strongly asserted that one day, people will show up for a Nigerian film the same way. Her belief is valid but what is the intentionality in the industry to achieve such a cultural moment? What Michael Jackson’s music biopic is achieving is not accidental but engineered. The success of Michael proves that people show up for meaning not just movies.
Statistics Don’t Lie
On its opening weekend, Michael grossed about $217 million globally, cementing it as one of the biggest cinematic openings of 2026.
In Nigeria, the film also recorded strong box office numbers, crossing over ₦120 million in its opening weekend run across cinemas.
In one week, Michael crossed $400 million worldwide, reinforcing its position as one of the year’s biggest global film successes.
The success of the late singer’s biopic significantly transcended to his music, and currently, Michael Jackson has surpassed 70 million listeners on Spotify. What this means is that through Michael, a new generation is discovering the legacy of the legendary singer. This underscores the enduring demand for stories centred on the late icon, whose cultural impact continues to resonate across generations. Nearly two decades after his demise, his legacy lives on.
These statistics are not just numbers, they are vivid proof of how event cinema can be transformed into a cultural moment for global recognition. This is not just about the story but about identity, anticipation and shared experience. By contrast, Nollywood often treats cinemas as a distribution endpoint not a cultural event.
Nollywood’s Attempt At Biopics
Biopics are inspired by real people and events. They are stories that can turn history into something understandable, relatable and emotional. No doubt, Nollywood is not new to biopics, but as Abioye Damilare Samson, Nigerian Music Critic rightly said, “The truth is, we have barely scratched the surface.” He acknowledged that there is an appetite for such stories but it needs to be well executed. “We have seen it work, like Tunde Kelani’s Ayinla showed that you could take an Apala legend and build something cinematic and emotionally resonant around his life.”
Samson said there’s also Netflix’s Finding Fela (2014), which leans more into a documentary than a biopic. However, he identified some unexplored icons that Nollywood are missing out on including Christy Essien-Igbokwe, Sonny Okosuns, Onyeka Onwenu, King Sunny Ade, Victor Uwaifo, amongst others.
Still on Nollywood biopics, Adedamola Jones Adedayo, Film Journalist and Critic, referenced Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, based on one of the most important women in Nigeria’s political history. However, like Samson, he considers the catalogue small. “More work needs to be done to preserve the legacy of other key figures, and it’s not just about doing so but doing it right and being as faithful as possible to the real account and lives of these figures.”
Adedayo emphasised the place of appropriate marketing strategies to such projects. “It is not enough for a biopic to merely exist, it must be well marketed and box-office-friendly enough so that audiences can see and connect with the personalities that it is based on.”
Other notable biopics, where Nollywood has explored cultural legends and political figures include 93 Days (2016), The Herbert Macaulay Affair (2019), Amina (2021), Badamosi: Portrait of a General (2021) and Hijack ’93 (2025). Among these handful of titles, music biopics barely stand out.
Nigeria and The ‘Michael’ Effect
Contributing his thoughts, Film Director Benneth Nwankwo said the ‘Michael’ effect as seen with the buzzing Michael Jackson biopic shows how powerful storytelling can become a tool for legacy building. He insisted that Michael is not merely about entertainment. It is about shaping memory and reintroducing Michael Jackson to a new generation in a controlled and global way.
“What stands out to me is the level of intentionality. Hollywood is not only telling his story, they are packaging it as a cultural event with global reach, backed by massive funding and strategic distribution,” he noted.
For Nollywood, Nwankwo who is known for Class of Secrets said the lesson is clear. While there is an existence of equally powerful cultural figures in Nigeria, Nollywood is not yet approaching their stories with the same scale, structure, and ambition. For him, the ‘Michael’ effect is really about how a legacy can be reactivated and amplified when storytelling, business, and global strategy are fully aligned.
Corroborating this, Adedayo noted that the biopic’s subject of interest is a cultural icon of global recognition, whose influence transcends the music industry in different parts of the world. For Nigerian film and music landscapes, according to him, this is an indicator for more purposeful collaborations, a statement that ideas properly married will resonate with the international market.
Samson added that the Michael Jackson biopic is a reminder that there is a massive appetite in Nigeria for stories told with scale and intention, and the cinema turnouts and the conversations it has sparked are evident. The music critic doesn’t find Michael’s global success surprising considering the King of Pop’s music legacy.
According to Samson, Michael Jackson’s impact on Nigerian music is more profound than many realize, dating back to the 80s. Artists like Kris Okotie and Chris Mba exemplify this influence, as they infused the local scene with exceptional showmanship and pop flair, clearly inspired by the global energy of the iconic singer. The thread continued according to Samson into the 2000s with P-Square, whose synchronised movement and stage language mirrored Jackson’s performance vocabulary in ways that were hard to miss.
“And even sonically, his fingerprints are on the culture, his music Liberian Girl was interpolated on Shakomo, a record that would go on to be regarded as one of the defining songs in Afrobeats history. So in many ways, Nigerian artists have been paying homage to Michael Jackson for four decades,” he added.
Cultural and Strategic Lessons For Nollywood
In an era where films are no longer just films, Nollywood has a lot to learn from the success of Michael in building films as cultural memories, not only entertainment.
Nwankwo said Nollywood can learn that films are not just products for release, they are tools for shaping how people remember culture.
The first lesson he mentions is scale. He believes that if a story is culturally important, it should be treated as a global product from the beginning, not adjusted later for reach. The second lesson is structure. “Rights, funding, casting, and distribution should all be aligned early so the film is not limited after production.”
Lastly, Nwankwo said the third lesson for Nollywood is mindset. The industry needs to start seeing films as cultural archives, not just entertainment. “Stories about people like Fela or Osadebe should be built to preserve memory and also travel internationally. If Nollywood takes that approach, films will stop being just moments of success and start becoming long-lasting cultural records,” Nwankwo said.
In addition, Samson reiterated that the biggest lesson for Nollywood is intentionality. He said Nollywood has always been good at giving people something to watch, something to laugh at, and feel in the moment. However, what it has struggled with is building films that people return to. “Films that really hold a generation’s memory of itself.”
The music critic cited an interview online where Jaafar Jackson spoke about spending two years training and learning Michael Jackson’s dance moves, going deep into the acting preparation before a single frame was shot. “I mean, two years!. And the question that raises for me is whether Nollywood can really commit to that kind of process.”
Opportunity For Stronger Collaborations
Considering the success of Michael, Nwankwo strongly believes there is a worthy opportunity for Nollywood to prioritise music biopics as a means for stronger music and film collaboration. He said music biopics sit at the intersection of film and music, which are already two of Nigeria’s biggest cultural exports.
He delved into Nigeria’s rich catalogue of musical legends whose stories are still emotionally active today including Fela, Osita Osadebe, King Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey.
“The opportunity is not just nostalgia. It is scale. Music gives films a ready made emotional connection, and film gives music history a visual permanence that can travel globally. If done properly, music biopics can also strengthen both industries at once,” Nwankwo said.
The Film Director identified opportunities such collaboration will open including new revenue streams, deepening artist legacy, and pushing Nollywood into more global conversations. “There is a real opportunity, but it will only work if it is treated with the same seriousness as major international productions, not as smaller local projects.”
Also, offering his insights into the conversation, Samson noted that moving outside the scope of contemporary music and Afrobeats, it is clear that Nigeria has a rich music history. “We need biopics on the likes of Oliver De Coque, Osita Osadebe, Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey.” He said that through this collaboration, not only is Nollywood venerating these legends, but it is also helping to portray Nigeria’s music industry as a dynamic space worthy of study and appreciation by both local and international audiences.
Beyond the Box Office Moment
Empty cinemas are rarely a sign of disinterest. They are usually a sign of disconnect. The Michael effect shows what happens when storytelling, marketing and cultural memory align at scale.
If Nollywood can begin to build anticipation early, treat films as cultural events, and invest in the systems that sustain audience engagement, it will not need to chase global moments.
It will create them, and when it does, the question will no longer be whether audiences will show up. It will be whether the cinemas are large enough to hold them.
