Anxiety over pirated copies of $10m Nigerian film

Pirated copies of Half of A Yellow Sun are spreading unabated in parts of Lagos, JAYNE AUGOYE writes

Pirated copies of Nigeria’s most anticipated film, Half of a Yellow Sun, which started selling on the streets of Lagos a few weeks ago, seem to have found their way to other parts of the country.

Although copies of the film, which is still awaiting official approval for sale in the market from the Nigeria Film and Video Censors Board, have been sighted in some major cities around the country, investigation shows that the bulk of the sales is concentrated in Lagos.

In fact, about two days ago, a Lagos resident told our correspondent, on condition of anonymity that she purchased neatly-bound copies of the movie from a top supermarket in the Surulere area of Lagos.

Also, on Tuesday, a concerned member of the public lamented the trend on his Facebook page.

He wrote, “The film ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ is being hawked on Lagos Island, especially in traffic hold-ups. The film hasn’t even been distributed in DVD format yet! Where do these Alaba boys get these things from? Somebody’s multi-million naira investment is going up in flames because of some idiot’s greed!”

When our correspondent contacted, Mr Kene Mkparu, whose outfit, FilmOne Distribution, is the official distributor of the movie, he declined to comment on the issue.

But a source c connected with the producers of the movie, said, “We are aware that the movie is being pirated all over the state and we have already put out a public paid announcement to this effect.”

When asked how the producers intend to tackle the ugly development, he declined to speak further.

While this is not the first time that piracy will be rearing its ugly head in the Nigerian film industry, movie buffs have been trying to figure out how pirates managed to get hold of the movie, which cost the producers about $10m to shoot.

Earlier, the producers of ‘Half of A Yellow Sun’ had announced that the film set a new box office record in Nigeria. The record came from showing the movie in 15 cinemas across Nigeria within three days of its official release in August, with Lagos cinemas topping the charts.

In a message posted on his Facebook page, the director of the movie, Biyi Bandele, had said that ticket sales of the film accounted for over 50 per cent of total box office takings during the exhibitions.

He wrote, “Half of a Yellow Sun beat Marvel/Disney’s ‘Guardian of the Galaxy’, starring Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana to achieve this feat. Exit polling shows audiences are happy with the film and word of mouth should gradually spread.”

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Joseph Mawle, Onyeka Onwenu and John Boyega, among others, ‘Half of A Yellow Sun’ was first premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival in Canada and released in the United States before it opened in Nigerian cinemas earlier this month.

Before now, the delay in the official approval of the film was the subject of a long-drawn controversy between the producers of the film, the author and the NFVCB.