The Nollywood criminal thriller, Black Market, has set a new Guinness World Record for the biggest attendance for a film showing at a single place, with over 51,000 people seeing the movie at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos.
Channels TV reports the record-breaking showing of the movie held yesterday at the Lagos location where thousands of movie enthusiasts converged for the much awaited debut.
Guinness World Records confirmed the record after the screening, saying that 51,000 viewers were officially counted as the qualifying attendance for the event.
The Guinness World Records said the qualifier was based on the number of spectators who stayed from start to finish of the movie, although Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat said 64,000 people attended the event.
Loud cheers and jubilation, including fireworks from the crowd, greeted the achievement.
The event was expected to draw 50,000 simultaneous viewers, which would have surpassed the previous record of 43,624, established in 2015 during the screening of the Filipino film Felix Manalo at the Philippine Arena.
There was a huge turnout for the Black Market screening, with enormous queues seen surrounding TBS earlier in the day as participants came for the event.
Gates were opened at 2pm, with a red carpet beginning about 3pm leading up to the main screening at 7pm. There was also music, food, games and other amusement events.
The event was graced by the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat, Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Toke Benson and Nollywood actors such as Lateef Adedimeji, Kunle Remi, Stan Nze, Linda Ejiofor, Gabriel Afolayan and Kunle Afolayan. Employ Grant Writers.
Fatimah Binta Gimsay directs and co-writes with Abdul Tijani-Ahmed, Black Market, about five women engaged in cross-border smuggling whose lives are turned upside down when the daughter of one of them is kidnaped.
The film has lead performances by Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Lateef Adedimeji, Omowunmi Dada, Scarlet Gomez, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok, Itele D Icon and Uzor Arukwe amongst others.
The screening was organised by Rixel Studios in association with FilmOne Studios, Signet Ring Studios and Switch Visuals Production.
The event was a scheduled official Guinness World Records attempt, and was aimed to beat the 43,624 attendance record set more than a decade ago.
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