Nollywood crime thriller Black Market has broken the Guinness World Record for the largest attendance at a film screening in a single location, after more than 51,000 people watched the movie at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) in Lagos.
The record-breaking screening took place on Saturday, September 26, as thousands of movie lovers gathered at the Lagos venue for the highly anticipated premiere.
Guinness World Records confirmed the achievement after the screening, officially recognising 51,000 viewers as the qualifying attendance for the record.
Although Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat announced that 64,000 people attended the event, Guinness World Records based the official figure on viewers who remained at the venue from the beginning to the end of the movie.
The announcement of the record was met with loud cheers, celebrations and fireworks from the crowd.
Organisers had targeted 50,000 simultaneous viewers, aiming to surpass the previous record of 43,624 people. That record was set in 2015 during a screening of the Filipino film Felix Manalo at the Philippine Arena.
The Black Market screening attracted a massive crowd, with long queues reported around TBS as attendees arrived for the event.
The gates opened at 2 p.m., while the red carpet began around 3 p.m. ahead of the main screening, which was scheduled for 7 p.m. The event also featured music, food, games and other entertainment activities.
The screening was attended by Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture Toke Benson, as well as Nollywood stars including Lateef Adedimeji, Kunle Remi, Stan Nze, Linda Ejiofor, Gabriel Afolayan and Kunle Afolayan.
Directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay and co-written by Gimsay and Abdul Tijani-Ahmed, Black Market follows five women involved in a cross-border smuggling operation whose lives are thrown into turmoil after the daughter of one of them is kidnapped.
The film stars Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Lateef Adedimeji, Omowunmi Dada, Scarlet Gomez, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok, Itele D Icon and Uzor Arukwe, among others.
The screening was organised by Rixel Studios in collaboration with FilmOne Studios, Signet Ring Studios and Switch Visuals Production.
The event was planned as an official Guinness World Records attempt to surpass the previous 43,624-attendance benchmark established more than a decade ago.
