With his recent disclosures regarding the Nigerian film business and its connection to the international streaming behemoth Netflix, Nigerian comedian and actor Bright Okpocha, better known online as Basketmouth, has stirred some controversy.
Following the unexpected announcement of Netflix’s withdrawal from the Nigerian market, the whole Nollywood business and its supporters are in a terrible situation. According to reports, Netflix formally shut down its operations in Nigeria in November 2024, removing the funding that streaming services had been giving to promote the country’s film industry.
This decision has also led to the cancellation of several Nigerian original projects, leaving producers and filmmakers grappling with the fallout of losing a major avenue for global distribution and funding.
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In a recent interview with Arise TV, Basketmouth, who had recently released his blockbuster movie, ‘A Ghetto Love Story’, openly discussed major challenges facing the industry, calling out celebrities like Kunle Afolayan, Bolanle Austen-Peters, Femi Adebayo, Odunlade Adekola and other movie producers while explaining Netflix’s possible reduction in investments in Nigeria.
According to the comedian, Netflix provided $1.5 million to movie producers for various projects, but the funds were mismanaged. He claimed that filmmakers spent only 10% of the money on the actual movies and used the rest to purchase houses and cars.
In his words, “When streaming platforms entered Nigeria, they gave money to producers to make movies. However, most of them would use about 10% to produce the movie and use the rest to buy houses and cars. I won’t mention names, but they know themselves. I am not saying all of them but most of them. They are about 70% and more. To the point that the streaming platforms want to deal with the actors direct. These people will still go behind and tell actors to pay half back to them. You can verify this.”
Watch the video below: