Funke Akindele’s latest film, Behind the Scenes, has crossed the N500 million mark at the Nigerian box office just two weeks after its theatrical release, setting new benchmarks for Nollywood and cementing the actress-director’s dominance at the cinema.
Box office data released by FilmOne Entertainment and Nigerian box office, the film’s West African distributor, shows that the title has now grossed N514 million, making it the ‘fastest Nollywood film to reach the N500 million milestone’.
The movie also emerged as the number one film of the weekend, extending what distributors described as a historic run across cinemas in Nigeria and Ghana.
The performance adds to Akindele’s growing list of commercial successes and comes at a time when filmmakers are facing rising production costs and pressure to justify large budgets through theatrical returns. Reports showed that the film’s rapid climb highlights the continued appetite for locally produced stories that resonate with mass audiences.
Directed by Funke Akindele in collaboration with Tunde Olaoye, Behind the Scenes features an ensemble cast that includes Destiny Etiko, Ibrahim Chatta, Ini Dima-Okojie, Iyabo Ojo, Tobi Bakre, Uzor Arukwe and Victoria Adeleye.
The drama, which runs for two hours and 24 minutes and is rated 12A, follows the life of Aderonke “Ronky-Fella” Faniran, a successful real estate entrepreneur whose generosity toward others begins to take a personal toll, raising questions around self-sacrifice, boundaries and responsibility.
The film is currently showing in major cinema locations across Nigeria and Ghana, including Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and Accra. Akindele has previously disclosed that the production budget exceeded N1 billion, underscoring the scale of investment behind the project and the stakes involved in its box office performance.
The success has drawn strong reactions from audiences across West Africa, with Akindele publicly thanking cinema-goers in Nigeria and Ghana for their support, describing the run as a reflection of belief in the story and the industry.
The film’s rapid rise followed a record-breaking opening. Behind the Scenes, which premiered on December 12, generated more than N200 million in its opening weekend, the highest opening-weekend gross recorded by any Nollywood film in 2025 so far.
FilmOne reported that the movie sold 34,548 tickets between December 12 and 14, setting five opening-weekend records, including the highest admissions in a single weekend this year.
Momentum had also been building ahead of release, with advance screenings generating N27.2 million in ticket sales, the highest ever recorded for a Nollywood title, while an earlier UK debut recorded over 1,550 admissions and sold out multiple screens, signalling strong diaspora demand.