Toyin Abraham’s newest film project, Iyalode, is positioning itself to join the ranks of the highest-grossing epic films at the Nigeria movie box in the second half of 2025.
Following its premiere release on June 6, this historical drama has generated a remarkable N292.8 million in Nigerian Movie Box revenue within just five weeks, establishing itself as one of the year’s leading domestic film achievements.
Iyalode is directed by Adebayo Tijani and produced by Abraham and Kolawole Ajeyemi, Iyalode presents an engaging fictional narrative woven through themes of cultural heritage, defiance, and female agency.
A breakdown of the movie’s performance
The film opened to a thunderous reception, grossing N103.7 million in its first weekend, a rare feat for a homegrown production. In its second week, it pulled in another N61.6 million, pushing its cumulative earnings past the N200 million mark.
Now nearing N300 million, Iyalode is on course to outpace recent Nollywood hits such as Lakatabu, The Beast of Two Worlds, and Iyabo Ojo’s epic blockbuster, all of which settled in the N200 million to N250 million range.
In a statement by the movie producer Toyin Abraham at the film’s premiere, she revealed that the project cost over N1 billion to produce, a staggering figure for Nollywood, where production budgets are typically a fraction of that amount. She praised her distribution partner, FilmOne Entertainment, for its support in taking the film to a national audience.
