Nigerian box office: Here are the 3 highest-grossing Yoruba epic films so far

Once upon a time, we only had English-speaking movies selling out on the big screens and heading for streaming platforms, but now indigenous Yoruba titles are stealing the spotlight and clearing out the numbers too.

Last week, Odunlade Adekola's Orisa surpassed ₦100 million at the Nigerian box office, proving that there is an audience for our cultural stories as they continue to rise to the top of local and international charts.

With Orisa setting this new record and becoming the first Nollywood title to earn the most in 2023, we take a look at the three highest-grossing Yoruba epic movies at the Nigerian box office, so far:

King of Thieves - ₦320 million

Produced by Femi Adebayo and directed by Adebayo Tijani and Tope Adebayo Salami, King of Thieves first broke a record with its ₦250 million gross during its second week at the cinema. After spending 14 weeks at the Nigerian box office, the movie made a total of ₦320.80 million.

The Yoruba epic is set in Ajeromi, a Yoruba kingdom forced into chaos following the invasion of the vicious Ajeshinkole. King of Thieves was the start of a partnership between Femi Adebayo, Adebayo Tijani, Tope Adebayo Salami and Anthill film studios. Recently, this partnership birthed another Yoruba epic title, Jagun Jagun, which was acquired by Netflix as an original.

After its theatrical release, King of Thieves went on to Prime Video on August 1, 2022, and is currently still streaming.

Orisa - ₦100 million

Odunlade Adekola's Orisa is the talk of the town with its recent record-breaking accomplishment of ₦100 million at the Nigerian box office.

It was released in the midst of serious competition from highly anticipated Hollywood titles, Barbie and Oppenheimer. But in just its opening week, Orisa quickly broke the record of the highest-grossing opening film in Nollywood and the biggest epic opening of the year with ₦27.6 million.

By its second week, the epic title had completely kicked off Oppenheimer to fourth place with ₦60 million. As of August 17, 2023, Orisa has made a total of ₦101,451,70, based on figures from the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN).

Orisa tells the story of a king, who begins losing respect for the gods and his people, putting the kingdom at risk. It is still currently at Nigerian cinemas and select U.S cinemas as well.

Ayinla - ₦70 million

Directed by the veteran filmmaker Tunde Kilani, Ayinla spent roughly two months at the Nigerian cinemas and made a total of ₦70 million at the local box office.

Released on June 18, 2021, Ayinla kicked off the resurgence of Yoruba epic films in Nigerian theatres. The Jade Osiberu-produced movie didn't stop at its theatre's victory but went on to the Netflix streaming platform on May 20, 2022

The movie told the story of Ayinla Yusuf also known as Omowura, his musical journey into an international performance and his promiscuous adventures which landed him in trouble eventually.

Ayinla is currently showing on Netflix.