Battle of the Woods: Nollywood Versus Hollywood

The Battle of the Woods: Hollywood and Nollywood Cinema of the United States has played an undeniable role in the transmission and interpretation of many values that we hold today. We perceive real life situations based on what Hollywood has taught us. Some ninety years after the first huge success of American cinema, “The Great Train robbery” was released, we were introduced to a new brand of films. The cult classic “Living in Bondage” was distributed. This low- budget film produced in Onitsha, Nigeria set the scene for what would become an explosion. So impressed were the filmmakers and actors by their work, they coined the term Nollywood- the Nigerian Hollywood. The different environments and practices have resulted in obvious differences and a few similarities between Hollywood and Nollywood. The most noticeable characteristic of motion pictures produced in North America is their potential cost. In Hollywood today, a blockbuster that grosses $70 million could be considered a flop. Most major movies have production expenses that routinely top the $100 million mark. According to the Variety box office revenue chart, the total revenue for the U.S. box office in 2006 was $9.49 billion. Spiderman 3 cost over $ 250 million to produce, and Titanic earned a remarkable $1,848,813,795 worldwide. With these huge costs, the number of Hollywood movies produced yearly is relatively low. On the average, 603 movies are released every year. In contrast, the average Nollywood film costs between N2,040,000 and N2,760,000 ( $17,000- $23,000) to produce. Most Nollywood movies are produced in rented-out hotels, homes, offices and not complex studios. With this, filmmakers have lower start-up and maintenance costs. Usofia in London cost a modest N 2.5 million to produce and distribute. These relatively low costs act as an incentive for many to produce movies. According to Hala Gorani and Jeff Koinange, the Nollywood industry churns out approximately 200 videos for the home