Nollywood star Funke Akindele has delivered another box office blockbuster, with her new film Behind The Scenes earning over ₦200 million in its opening weekend. The performance cements her status as Nigeria’s most bankable filmmaker and one of the industry’s most powerful box office forces.
The film officially opened in cinemas nationwide on December 12 after advance screenings held on December 10 and 11. Within its first weekend, it crossed the ₦200 million mark, becoming the biggest opening weekend of 2025 so far.
FilmOne Entertainment, the movie’s distributor, confirmed the milestone on Monday, describing the release as a historic achievement. According to the distributor, Behind The Scenes is the first Nollywood film this year to cross ₦200 million on opening weekend and has already broken five separate opening-weekend box office records.
The film’s storyline explores the theme of “black tax,” focusing on financial pressure placed on individuals by extended family expectations. Scarlet Gomez leads the cast, with Akindele also appearing alongside a long list of Nollywood heavyweights and fan favourites.
The ensemble includes Iyabo Ojo, Destiny Etiko, Tobi Bakre, Uche Montana, Uzor Arukwe, Ini Dima-Okojie, Ibrahim Chatta, Adebowale “Mr Macaroni,” Kamo State, and reality TV stars Handi and Wanni Danbaki, among others.
Announcing the success on Instagram, FilmOne praised Akindele’s consistency at the box office and thanked cinema audiences nationwide for turning out in large numbers. The distributor said the film also recorded the highest weekend admissions of the year and continues to screen across cinemas nationwide.
The latest success adds to Akindele’s growing list of box office milestones. Her previous release, Everybody Loves Jenifa, set a new Nollywood record for the biggest opening weekend of all time, surpassing her earlier hit A Tribe Called Judah.
Everybody Loves Jenifa attracted over 38,000 admissions during its opening weekend, including advance screenings. The film went on to become the highest-grossing Nollywood movie ever, earning more than ₦1.8 billion in Nigeria alone, with additional revenue from international markets.
That film crossed the ₦1 billion mark in December 2024 and remained in cinemas into early 2025, drawing massive crowds and redefining commercial expectations for West African cinema.
With Behind The Scenes now off to a record-breaking start, Funke Akindele continues to set the pace for Nollywood’s box office era, reinforcing her reputation as the industry’s undisputed “Queen of the Box Office.”
