By Akinwale Kasali
Africa Movie Box Office Record Breaker, Funke Akindele, has come hard on those criticizing her ‘Dancing Style’ approach in marketing her movies.
The Actress, popular as Jenifa, is known for her dancing and comedic marketing strategy of her movies. She currently holds the title of the highest-grossing Nollywood filmmaker. But she has come under criticism from netizens, colleagues and movie critiques, who have faulted her marketing approach.
In a series of posts shared by the actress Saturday on her Instagram story, she stated that she is not the one hindering anybody’s progress and it only makes sense if all of them succeed together.
She said, “I’m not the one hindering your progress. Ka rin ka po, yiye nin ye ni”
She further stated that the sky is big enough for everybody to fly and others should create their own path if they cannot beat them or join the existing one.
She said: “If you can’t beat them or join them, create your own path. No allow jealousy burn you. The sky is so big for everybody to fly. Eyin Werey jojo!!!”
She urged her other colleagues to go ahead and create alternative promotion strategies to market their films.
“Go ahead and create alternative promotion or marketing strategies for promoting your business, or hire a company to handle it.
“You can do it! The opportunities are endless, and everyone has their own path. I’m focused on mine, and I have faith in God’s plan for me”, she said.
The Actress broke her own Movie Box Office Record, as she currently holds the record for the top three highest-grossing Nollywood movies with Behind The Scenes, released in 2025, grossing N2,407,000,000 and still counting. Everybody Loves Jenifer, released in 2024, grossed N1,882,553,548, and A Tribe Called Judah, released in 2023, grossed N1,408,227,541.
In a similar development, renowned filmmaker, Kunle Afolayan, has said he is not interested in box office records or competing for cinema revenue, stressing that his focus is on creative control and long-term value rather than headline earnings.
Afolayan made the remarks while speaking at the Lagos Business of Film Summit on January 30, where he criticised what he described as the exhausting promotional demands associated with cinema releases.
According to him, streaming platforms such as Netflix offer better returns without the pressure of extensive promotional gimmicks, citing his recent project, Aníkúlápó: Rise of the Spectre, as an example.
Responding to questions about a possible return to cinema releases, Afolayan suggested he would only do so under the right creative conditions. “I’ll come back if Kene and Ope can say to me, look at the gimmick she has left. See what they did.
“They want to release in December, your film that you are in. They have announced in January. But my point really is, I just need like, I’ll make you amazing film,” he said in part.
Referencing Aníkúlápó, the filmmaker noted that minimal promotion can still generate strong audience interest.
“Look at, okay, look at Anikulapo, This is not anything. We released just a screenshot, a screen grab of the series, I did that like two weeks ago. I posted it and it was people have been stabbed of good content.
“You see why you need me, Kene. The whole world went boom because they haven’t seen, you know, anything from us in a while,” he said.
He added that while a future cinema collaboration remains possible, it would not involve what he described as performative promotion.
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