Unveiling the Curtains Behind Nigerian Animation: Struggles, Successes and Solutions

Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” becoming the first $1 billion grosser of 2024 reminds the movie industry—if it wasn’t already common knowledge—that the animation industry can compete with their live-action counterparts both commercially and critically.

It seems that Nigeria is not yet a signatory to such successes as its animation industry is still in its infancy and struggles to keep pace with the seismic force of its live-action section.

Progress in the Nigerian animation industry has been moving at a snail’s pace, relegating it to being a minor participant in a $391 billion industry, with the major problems plaguing Nollywood in its early years still clinging to it like a flea to a cow’s hide.

Funding Woes

A recurring theme in discussions about Nigeria’s challenges is “Funding”. It seems inescapable and the animation industry is not exempted. Not that there aren’t similar issues in developed industries such as Hollywood (their  movies don’t cost less too) but they are a ubiquitous obstacle in Nigeria’s development.

Suffice to say, animation is quite (scratch that, VERY) different from live-action. Bisi Adetayo, lead animator in “Game of Thrones” and “LadyBuckit & The Motley Mopsters” (2020) likened it to playing god and for good reason. In live-action, the director’s main concern is the quality of his cast and crew. But with animation, he gets that and an extra headache on the entirely new virtual world he must create from nothing—sky, trees, terrain, characters. Name it. The only human input in the production is the character’s voices.

As you guessed, getting to play god doesn’t come cheap. The costs of high-end machinery for rendering 3D animations, studio space, and hiring talented actors and animators are enough to scare any potential investor. In a country like Nigeria, where the power supply is as reliable as a crook’s word, these challenges are exacerbated.

To understand the financial burden, consider that Disney’s 2013 hit “Frozen” cost $150 million to produce, and it’s not even in the top 10 most expensive animated films. The most expensive, the long-haired “Tangled” (2010), squeezed $260 million off Disney’s pocket.

Not all animated pictures are that expensive, but even the modest ones cost around $40 million.

With animation costs averaging between Two to $50 million, even the lowest price spectrum is a financial burden on local studios given the economic situation in Nigeria. And with “Half of a Yellow Sun”, Nollywood’s most expensive movie to date, having a N1.6 billion price tag (a little over $9.5 million as of 2013), it leaves no doubt as to how expensive these things get.

Komotion Studios’ “Dawn of Thunder,” an animation concept initially highly praised, got an underwhelming response to the subsequent crowdfunding campaign, highlighting where the loyalty of fans truly lies as well as the complexities of crowdfunding which I explored earlier.

Adding to the already lengthy hurdles animators face is the time-consuming nature of the animation process which is even much worse in stop motion where a three-minute film can take weeks or months to produce. Animators working on Marvel Studios films often complained of extensive workloads leading to some breaking down at work.

Understandably, Marvel movies have a sky-high VFX bar, but it doesn’t make the point that animation is exhausting—regardless of quality—less valid. For example, the development of Pixar’s “Toy Story 3” (2010) took roughly four years, encompassing pre-production, storyboarding, animation, and post-production.

Talent and Education Deficit

Time and money alone are insufficient to create anything worthwhile. Talent is key. In this branch of the creative sector, this factor is often overlooked–especially by the uninformed.

Sure, Nigeria is brimming with talented hearts on all artistic fronts but its animation industry lacks a fair share. Shortage of animation institutions and training centers limits the arsenal of competent animators, making it difficult to fulfill the growing demand for quality material.

Heralded female animator and founder of Shrinkfish media lab, Ebele Okoye, in an earlier interview with The Nollywood Reporter, lamented the absence of formal education in the sector which hampers the availability of skilled human resources and widens the gap between Northern and South Africa and the rest of the continent. Self-teaching, she says, “stands in the way of quality full-scale productions.”

This reasoning was also mirrored by Adebisi Adetayo, co-founder of Third Academy of Arts and Design when he spoke to Channels TV on the challenges of the Nigerian Animation industry. He emphasized that a robust educational system and facilities are essential for the industry’s growth, as they determine the parameters within which the industry can thrive. Without proper education and training, the industry will struggle to reach its full potential.

Market Demand and Distribution Channels

Initially, an apparent lack of demand and weak distribution channels were significant hurdles for the Nigerian animation industry. But as the high turnout for “Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse” (2018), “Angry Birds 2” (2019), and “Hotel Transylvania 3” (2018) at the Nigerian box office indicated, this is rapidly changing and is proof that superior quality has no substitute.

Despite this, Ayodele Elegba, CEO of Spoof Animation Studio, believes that current market demand levels—hindered by poor infrastructure—are still too low to create job opportunities in sufficient quantities.

Speaking at a 2023 Filmmakers’ Forum hosted by the Nollywood Studies Centre at Pan-Atlantic University’s School of Media and Communication, he emphasized the industry’s struggle to retain even its educated talents.

Government Policies and Cooperation

Strict government policies, weak distribution channels make monetization difficult, and lack of cooperation within the industry further stifle its growth.

The latter challenge is twofold.

Investors and indigenous companies are often hesitant to collaborate with local animators, opting instead to source talent externally. This hesitation is somewhat justified due to local animators’ tendency to underdeliver, leveraging the low expectations of the Nigerian audience. Additionally, there is a significant amount of unhealthy competition among animation companies themselves.

“On the surface, there are collectives of Animation studios, giving the impression of cooperation. But one can observe a lot of unhealthy competition and antagonism within. There are instances of people complaining that they are not being ‘carried along’ yet reject requests for cooperation” Ebele stated.

Moreover, there’s the Creator’s Enigma—a dilemma where animators and artists must decide whether forfeiting their creative integrity for funding is worthwhile. These challenges and more have restricted Nigerian animations to shorts and skits.

Positive Developments and the Way Forward

Contrary to popular belief, the Nigerian government has not turned a completely blind eye to the 2D and 3D arm of its creative industry.

The $617 million Digital and Creative Enterprises (IDICE) investment fund, launched in mid-2023 and the Youth in Animation and Post Production Initiative (YAPPI), a collaborative effort between Del York Academy and the MasterCard Foundation, which aims to train 60,000 animators over five years present some of the positive steps by the Nigerian government in watering the buds of the nation’s animation industry.

In recent years, these collaborative efforts and policy drifts have started to pay off.

Disney’s collaboration with the British-based Pan-African entertainment company, Kugali Media, on “Iwaju” (2024), the all-African writer and director crew, and the solid reviews is proof of that. Even more promising is the Jamaican government’s newfound interest in Nigeria’s film industry.

Despite the challenges, some Nigerian studios didn’t wait to be spoon fed and took matters into their own hand (or “cameras”) to produce full-length animated films worthy of gracing the silver screens.

Perhaps the finest example of success in Nigerian animation would be Hot Ticket’s “LadyBuckit & The Motley Mopsters” (2020). Although fraught with never-ending delays—no thanks to COVID-19 and the not-surprising power cuts—producer Blessing Amindu persisted in bringing “LBMM” (as it’s simply known) to life, making it Nigeria’s inaugural feature-length 3D animated movie. The decision to place “Games of Thrones” animator, Bisi Adetayo, in the lead chair ultimately paid off, as his experience guided the movie to a solid 7.2 IMDB rating albeit at a hefty budget of $1 million.

Kolawole Olarenwaju, CEO of Komotion Studio, and his short animated film “Dawn of Thunder” also garnered much praise when teasers dropped in late 2021 and 2022. Far from merely being a rip-off of Thor as some ignorant folks have claimed, this chilling story of the origin of the Yoruba deity and manipulator of thunder, Sango, is one of the finest examples of how to do African mythology right. YouNeek Studios’ “Malika: Warrior Queen” is yet another shining example.

Nevertheless, these achievements are but a drop in the ocean of the Nigerian animation sector’s peak potential. Funke Akindele’s N1.5 Billion grosser, “A Tribe Called Judah,” proved to all back in January that the industry’s potential is limitless if nurtured correctly.

As Ebele remarked, the potential is so bright that “we would all be needing thick goggles soon”.

How it attains said peak depends on the continued willingness of the Nigerian government and investors to invest heavily in animation projects and infrastructure as well as the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders involved, including animation studios themselves.

Because, as Adetayo notes, the quality of knowledge in any talent can only be maximized by proper education and collaboration, something Nigeria currently lacks.