Funke Akindele and Tunde Olaoye Lead Nollywood Box Office with ₦1.32 Billion

Nigerian filmmaker and actress Funke Akindele and director Tunde Olaoye have become the top Nollywood directors at the Nigerian box office in 2025.

StatiSense, a data and visualisation company from Nigeria and Africa, shared this news in a tweet on its X page on Wednesday.

The ranking comes from the Nigeria Box Office Yearbook, which tracks how films perform in the country.

According to StatiSense, films directed by Akindele and Olaoye made a total of ₦1.320 billion at the Nigerian box office in 2025, putting them at the top of the list.

Film producer and director Adebayo Tijani came in second place with films that earned ₦1.159 billion. Tope Adebayo ranked third with ₦852 million.

Yehi Morafa, known as Film Boy, took the fourth spot, with his films earning ₦522 million.

Actress and filmmaker Toyin Abraham-Ajeyemi was fifth with ₦480 million. Filmmaker Kayode Kasum followed closely, whose films made ₦422 million.

Actor and filmmaker Muyiwa Ademola was in seventh place with ₦419 million. Biodun Stephen ranked eighth with ₦341 million.

Adeoluwa Owu, a film director and cinematographer, came ninth with ₦248 million. Actor and filmmaker Daniel Etim Effiong rounded out the list, ranking tenth with ₦193 million.

StatiSense reported that the top 10 directors were linked to films that together grossed at least ₦5.97 billion at the Nigerian box office in 2025.

Among Akindele’s notable films in 2025 was “Behind the Scenes”, which she produced and released in cinemas on 12 December. The movie follows Aderonke Faniran, a real estate entrepreneur played by Scarlet Gomez, and had a strong box-office performance.

Akindele also produced “Finding Me”, a film that explores love, personal growth, and finding balance. Amazon Prime Video released this movie on its platform on 16 March 2025.

In January, PREMIUM TIMES reported that “Behind the Scenes” had crossed the ₦2 billion mark at the box office, making it the first Nollywood film to achieve that milestone.

This success added to Akindele’s impressive box-office history. In 2023, “Battle on Buka Street” became Nollywood’s highest-grossing film, earning ₦640 million locally and more than $61,000 from cinema screenings in the United States.

Her successful run continued in 2024 when “A Tribe Called Judah” made over ₦1 billion at the box office. “Everybody Loves Jenifa” later surpassed that amount, earning ₦1.88 billion and setting a new box-office record in West Africa.

Olaoye directed “Singleness Is Bliss”, produced by Fisayo Ajisola-Borokinni. Abraham-Ajeyemi has directed films like “Oversabi Aunty”, “Street Genius”, and “Monetised Marriage”.

Etim made his directorial debut with the crime thriller “The Herd”, which opened in cinemas across Nigeria on 17 October 2025.

Ademola directed “Orí Rebirth”, a spiritual drama released on 1 May 2025. Stephen has directed several films, including “Labake Olododo”, “Aso Ebi Diaries”, and “Unclaimed”, along with various direct-to-digital and YouTube productions released on her platform.