Nollywood crime thriller Black Market has set a Guinness World Record for the largest attendance at a film screening in a single location, with 51,000 people officially recognised as having watched the movie at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos.
The record-breaking screening took place on Saturday, drawing thousands of moviegoers to the Lagos venue for the highly anticipated premiere.
Guinness World Records confirmed the feat after the screening, 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 said the official figure was based on viewers who remained at the screening from the beginning of the film to the end.
The announcement was met with loud cheers, celebrations and fireworks from the crowd.
Organisers had set a target of 50,000 simultaneous viewers, seeking to surpass the previous record of 43,624 people, set in 2015 during a screening of the Filipino film Felix Manalo at the Philippine Arena.
The Black Market screening attracted a huge crowd, with long queues reported around TBS earlier in the day as attendees arrived for the event.
The gates opened at 2pm, while the red carpet began at about 3pm ahead of the main screening at 7pm. The event also featured music, food, games and other entertainment activities.
Among those in attendance were Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture Toke Benson, and 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, with organisers seeking to surpass the 43,624-attendance benchmark established more than a decade ago.
