Mercy Johnson’s ‘ Legend of Inikpi’ Shines at Box Office

Mercy Johnson Okojie’s production debut The Legend of Inikpi has recently set a new record for Nollywood’s highest-grossing epic film at the cinemas.

Almost hitting the N20 million naira mark in its 2nd week, the movie is on its way to beating the Nollywood epic “jinx” in Nigerian cinemas. Nollywood epic movies generally perform poorly in comparison to all others in Nigerian cinemas.

Emem Isong’s 2016 film, Ayamma previously held the record for the highest-grossing Nollywood epic. Ayamma grossed a total of approximately 16 million naira at the box office after several weeks.

Interestingly, The Legend of Inikpi also holds to date the highest-grossing Nollywood opening weekend of 2020. The movie grossed 7.4 million naira while screening in just 44 cinemas.

The producer, Mercy Johnson, who maintains that telling Nigerian stories is her mandate, was excited to break the news on Instagram.

“The first reaction to my film was a rude awakening; ‘epic movies don’t sell in Nigerian cinemas’. Honestly, I was terrified when I saw statistics on statistics… I’m humbled to see the love that #TheLegendofInikpi has received in its first week.

“It’s not the regular blockbuster figures of course. But most importantly, it’s a strong validation that we should tell our stories; the people will come and watch them’’

Check out the post below:

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 The first reaction to my film was a rude awakening; ‘epic movies don’t sell in Nigerian cinemas’ Honestly, I was terrified when I saw statistics on statistics... I’m humbled to see the love that #TheLegendofInikpi has received in its first week. It’s not the regular blockbuster figures of course but most importantly, it’s a strong validation that we should tell our stories and the people will come and watch them! Thank you to everyone who has paid to see #TheLegendofInikpi. Especially in this period after #dettydecember 😃 Thank you for the reviews, thank you to all my colleagues and women who have reached out to show me love and support, it means the whole world to me! ❤️ If you haven’t seen our movie, you should and with family and friends! We will do more, I promise, we will do even better 🙏🏽 Love and Light #MercyJohnsonOkojie 😘
 
A post shared by  Mercy Johnson Okojie (@mercyjohnsonokojie) on Feb 1, 2020 at 10:19am PST
 

The Legend of Inikpi tells the folktale of an Igala hero princess, Inikpi, who gives her life for the freedom of her people. It features a stellar cast of Nollywood’s finest; Mercy Johnson Okojie, Sam Dede, Odunlade Adekola, Saidi Balogun and newbie Nancy Ameh.

The Legend of Inikpi is currently showing in cinemas in Nigeria and Ghana. You can check out our review of the movie here.