Funke Akindele’s ‘Behind The Scenes’ Crosses ₦200m at the Nigerian Box Office

Nollywood star and filmmaker Funke Akindele has scored another major box office win, as her new movie, Behind The Scenes, has earned over ₦200 million in its opening weekend in Nigerian cinemas.

The film, which explores the pressure of “black tax”, the financial responsibilities many working adults feel towards extended family, features Scarlet Gomez in the lead role.

The cast also includes Iyabo Ojo, Funke Akindele, Destiny Etiko, Tobi Bakre, Uche Montana, Uzor Arukwe, Ini Dima-Okojie, Adebowale “Mr Macaroni”, Ibrahim Chatta, Kamo State, and reality TV personalities Handi and Wanni Danbaki, among others.

According to distributor FilmOne Entertainment, Behind The Scenes recorded the biggest opening weekend of 2025 and is the first Nollywood title this year to cross the ₦200 million mark in its debut weekend. The company also described it as a five-time opening weekend record breaker and the film with the highest weekend admissions so far in 2025.

The movie held advanced screenings on December 10 and 11 before officially opening in cinemas nationwide on December 12.

In an Instagram post celebrating the milestone, FilmOne wrote that Akindele is called the “Queen of Box Office” for a reason, thanking Nigerian audiences for turning out, filling cinemas, and spreading word-of-mouth about the film. The distributor added that Behind The Scenes is still showing in cinemas across the country.

This latest success strengthens Akindele’s position as Nollywood’s most reliable box office force. Her previous film, Everybody Loves Jenifa, delivered the biggest opening weekend in Nollywood history, beating the record set by her earlier hit, A Tribe Called Judah, which opened with ₦113 million.

Everybody Loves Jenifa recorded 38,353 admissions, including advance screenings, and went on to become the highest-grossing Nollywood film of all time, earning over ₦1.8 billion in Nigeria alone, with extra income from international releases. It crossed the ₦1 billion mark in late December 2024 and continued its cinema run into early 2025, setting new performance benchmarks for West African cinema.