For a lot of people, Christmas would be incomplete without the ritual of watching a mischievous eight-year-old in a house full of hilarious traps. This is why Home Alone remains a holiday classic, entertaining generations since 1990. It has a simple but clever plot, memorable characters, hilarious scenes, and a heartwarming message. From Gen Zers to Gen Xers, the movie has warmed the hearts of viewers for decades. Yet, Home Alone is not just a great film because it evokes nostalgia. It is also a great example of the big business of Christmas movies. The movie has a worldwide gross of $476,684,675, making it the 117th highest-grossing film of all time. It also held the record for the highest-grossing live-action comedy for 25 years.
Watching movies that capture the holiday spirit has become a hallmark of Christmas entertainment passed from generation to generation. Hollywood classics, such as Home Alone, Elf, The Polar Express, and Love Actually, not only generate huge box office revenues but also create loyal fan bases and cultural impacts. Although Nollywood is the second biggest movie industry, not many Nollywood films fall into this category. Is Nollywood missing out on the big business of Christmas movies?
The big business of Christmas movies
Christmas movies are a popular genre of entertainment that appeal to a global audience. They often feature themes of love, family, generosity, and hope in festive settings. For many viewers, it provides a sense of escapism from the worries and challenges of everyday life while reminding them of the values and traditions that matter to them. Christmas movies also evoke nostalgia and emotions associated with the holiday season, such as family gatherings, gift exchanges, and festive music. A study by the University of Copenhagen claims that watching Christmas movies can boost happiness and well-being by creating a “hygge” effect, a Danish concept of cosy and comfortable living.
More importantly, Christmas movies are a lucrative and popular genre that generates huge profits and loyal fans for the studios, the actors, and the advertisers. Netflix reported that over 85 million households watched at least one of its holiday titles in 2022. Beyond viewership, these movies generate revenue from advertising, licensing, merchandising, and streaming deals. In 2022 alone, Hallmark Channel earned an estimated $390 million in ad revenue from its holiday movies. Netflix paid $60 million for the rights to air The Christmas Chronicles 2, starring Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.
These movies are relatively cheaper to produce, which helps them potentially generate a larger profit margin. According to IMDb, the average budget of a Hallmark Christmas movie is around $2 million, compared to the average budget of a Hollywood blockbuster which is around $200 million. Christmas movies can also spawn sequels, spin-offs, books, toys, and other products that boost brand value and fan engagement. They tend to create a positive reputation for the platforms that produce and distribute them. A good example of this is Hallmark. The Channel has been the most-watched cable network in the fourth quarter for the last five years, thanks to its annual “Countdown to Christmas”.
Can Nollywood get to the North Pole?
Nigeria has a large and growing population of children and young people who are potential consumers and creators of Christmas movies. There are about 223.8 million Nigerians in 2023. Currently, Nollywood has a large domestic and international audience, that generates an estimated $590 million annually. Moreover, Nigerians tend to seek humour and joy – both characteristics of Christmas movies – in the face of challenging realities. It’s a resilience trait that helps them cope. For example, despite the current economic situation in the country and dwindling purchasing power, the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria reported that Nigerians spent N10.5bn to watch movies in the cinema in the last 19 months. Moreover, Christmas movies are an opportunity to tap into Nigeria’s talent pool. There are a host of Nigerian creators exploring entertainment tech within and outside the continent.
Currently, watching Christmas movies for many Nigerians is synonymous with watching either Hollywood classics or Mount Zion movies that carry strong Christian values of Christmas. Although, the last few years have seen a budding supply and variety of Christmas movies from Africa, including A Naija Christmas, a Netflix original comedy directed by Kunle Afolayan, and A Zulu Christmas, a family film about a boy who learns about his heritage and traditions, and How To Ruin Christmas, a South African series about a dysfunctional family reunion. Nollywood movies have typically reflected the realities and challenges of everyday life in Nigeria, such as poverty, corruption, crime, and romance. These movies cater to the tastes and preferences of local and regional audiences, who may not be interested in watching fantasy or comedy movies set in unfamiliar contexts.
However, this does not mean that Nollywood is missing out on the big business of Christmas movies. Nollywood’s North Pole might just be a lot less snowy. The industry may have cracked the Nigerian holiday market. Christmas has been the peak season for Nigerian cinema in the last few years. Christmas weekend in 2018 saw a record-breaking N5.98billion in box office revenue in Nigeria, driven by Nollywood releases like Chief Daddy and The Ghost and the Tout Too. In 2019, Merry Men 2 grossed N49.6 million ($134,000) on its opening day, the highest opening day figure ever for a Nollywood film. In 2022, 7 out of the top 10 highest-grossing Nigerian films were released during the Christmas season. The industry has created its niche and identity through deep understanding and effective targeting of the audience’s preferences during this season. One of the people that have successfully cracked this is Nollywood filmmaker, Funke Akindele. Every year since 2019, the filmmaker has strategically released a movie during the Christmas season that has consistently ranked among the highest-grossing Nollywood films.
Moreover, Nollywood is barely getting around to the resources or technology to create high-quality special effects or animations often used in Christmas movies. Producing these elements isn’t as budget-friendly as a typical Hollywood Christmas release. The average Nollywood film costs around ₦2 million, but Niyi Akinmolayn’s family-friendly movie, Mikolo, cost ₦120 million. This was before the naira’s historic fall.
The industry may not see the need or the demand to produce movies that are specifically tailored to the Christmas season. They do not want to make movies that in a few months will come out on platforms and people will be a lot less enthusiastic to watch it because the matching Christmas feeling wared off. Besides, classics will always be classics. They have a lasting appeal and a nostalgic value. It would be hard to compete with them. A survey conducted last year ranked Home Alone as the most viewed Christmas film, with 87 percent of respondents saying they had seen it. Chris Columbus’ 1990 comedy classic was followed by How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
Nevertheless, the global movie industry is exploring new stories inspired by diverse experiences. This is why streamers like Netflix have been investing in African content recently. So far, the streaming giant has invested a total of $175 million in Africa, (especially Nigeria and South Africa) as part of its strategy to offer more diverse and original stories. The typical Nigerian (African) Christmas tales and traditions are everything but monolithic and predictable. It wouldn’t hurt to make money from them.
