Veteran Nollywood actor and filmmaker Jide Kosoko has revealed how he ended up in debt after his movie, Eleko: Oba Esugbayi, failed to recover its production cost of over ₦300 million at the cinema.
Speaking during an interview on the African A-List podcast, Kosoko explained that the money used to produce the film came from investors who expected to make returns from the project.
According to the actor, the film’s cinema release did not generate enough revenue to recover the amount invested, leaving him and the other parties involved with financial losses.
“My film ‘Eleko: Oba Esugbayi’ that recently came out and we took to the cinemas, cost us over ₦300 million. Do I have ₦300 million? You should know that some people gave it to me and it was not that they dashed me, they invested in it and we took the film to the cinemas,” he explained.
Kosoko further disclosed that the little money generated from the movie was shared among those involved, leaving them unable to recover their investment.
“Different things happened and we did not earn our money back. The little that was earned was split. As I am, if you hear someone with debt dancing around their neck, it is me,” he added.
The veteran actor’s revelation highlights the financial risks associated with releasing films in cinemas, where high production costs do not always translate into box-office success.
His disclosure comes weeks after fellow Nollywood actor Ramsey Nouah reportedly discussed the challenges filmmakers face when taking their projects to cinemas, noting that many productions fail to recover their costs despite significant spending on promotion.