Behind the Scenes

Funke Akindele has done it again. Behind the Scenes became the first Nollywood film ever to cross N2 billion at the box office, grossing N129.5 million on Boxing Day alone. At the heart of the film is Aderonke Faniran (Scarlet Gomez), a successful real estate entrepreneur who has spent her life as the family’s financial backbone. When a diagnosis forces her to reassess everything, the family she sacrificed for must confront who they really are.

Tobi Bakre anchors the ensemble with charisma. The Lagos setting crackles with the familiar energy that has made Akindele’s films cultural events. The dialogue occasionally becomes too on-the-nose, and some characters exist to carry moral lessons rather than feel like people. But commercially and culturally, this is a landmark.

Akindele’s third consecutive N1 billion+ film cements her as West Africa’s highest-grossing filmmaker of all time. Her third film to rank number one at the African box office for three consecutive years.

Verdict: Emotionally effective, commercially unmatched, creatively familiar. Akindele understands her audience better than anyone in Nigerian cinema.