Nollywood actress and box office Queen Funke Akindele has penned a heartfelt note to the public as her latest Cinema movie, Everybody Loves Jenifa, hits a major milestone.
According to reports, ELJ is now the 2024 highest-grossing Nollywood movie, as he hits N500 million in just 12 days.
Taking to her Instagram page, Funke expressed gratitude to God and the public for their love and support. She prayed for God to bless them all.
“Thank you, Lord!! Thank you, everyone!! I couldn’t have done this without your love and support!! God bless you all!!!”.
Just last week, Funke had expressed joy as her UK premiere tickets at Odeon Cinemas sold out in minutes. The movie star, who couldn’t contain her excitement, expressed love for her UK fans and supporters as she announced that more screens had been added to accommodate the numerous requests.
It wouldn’t be surprising that Funke breaks her former record as she has spared no cost in Everybody Loves Jenifa movie. Funke had empowered 175 crew members. She made this known while celebrating them for working tirelessly for nine weeks to bring her upcoming movie to life. She stated the movie was a self-funded project, and was honored to have empowered a team of talented individuals, with 95% of them being young people, to showcase their skills.
She had also partnered with Lagos State Fire Service for her film. This was made known by the Senior Special Assistant on New Media to Lagos State Governor, Jubril Giwa, on his X page.
Funke is currently the Queen of Box Office after she made history in January as the first Nigerian filmmaker to gross over a billion at cinemas, with her 2023 movie, A Tr!be Called Judah, which grossed over N1.4 billion. It was no surprise to many as Funke is one of the most hardworking women in Nollywood. Her movies in the past three years, A Tr!be Called Judah, Battle On Buka Street, and Omo Ghetto The Saga, are the highest-grossing Nollywood films ever.
Last week, Funke Akindele, who premiered her cried out over the high rate of piracy in Nollywood. The box office Queen urged Nigerians to say No to piracy, which is killing them. Funke noted how she worked so hard on her new project, spent a lot of resources, and is still investing in the movie.
A few weeks back, Funke had opened up on the hard times she experienced before rising to stardom. She shared a video of herself being active on the set of her highest-grossing billion-dollar movie, A Trībe Called Judah, as she counted herself as a testimony of believing in herself, saying she faced different challenges but learned to stand tall and encourage others because of them.