Funke Akindele’s A Tribe Called Judah is now the highest-grossing Nollywood title of all time.
The film, an instant hit in the Nigerian box office, has now grossed over ₦854 million in just under three
weeks, according to data Akindele shared on X (formerly Twitter).
However, the most recent data from the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN) pegged its
cumulative gross at just under ₦237 million. CEAN’s data only considered numbers prior to the 21st of
December, before the Christmas and New Year holidays when cinema ticket sales typically skyrocket.
This ₦854 million gross is the culmination of a long career by Akindele catering to the cinematic taste of
the Nigerian audience in an ever-changing media landscape.
Since she became a star, playing the lead in the franchise Jenifa, by far one of the biggest movie
franchises in the country more than a decade ago, she has been able to maintain a steady rise setting
records at the box office.
Battle on Buka Street made over ₦668 million at the box office. Omo Ghetto: The Saga made over ₦636
million.
More recently, including with A Tribe Called Judah, she has focused on stories that tackle the ethnic
divide in the country, a subject that rose to the top of the public consciousness in 2023, a highly heated
election year, in which she entered in political arena with her campaign for deputy governor of Lagos.
A Tribe Called Judah follows the lives of five brothers of the same mother, but with fathers of different
ethnic groups, as they plan to rob a small mall with their mother’s help. But they are faced with armed
robbers upon arriving.
The cast includes Akindele as the mother, Jide Kene Achufusi as Emeka Judah, Timini Egbuson as Pere
Judah, Uzee Usman as Adamu Judah, Tobi Makinde as Shina Judah, and Olumide Oworu as Ejiro Judah.