Nollywood crime thriller Black Market has set a Guinness World Record for the largest attendance at a film screening at a single venue, after 51,000 people watched the film at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos on Saturday, September 26, 2026.
A Guinness World Records official confirmed the figure during the screening, which surpassed the previous benchmark of 43,624 people set in 2015 at a screening of the Filipino film Felix Manalo at the Philippine Arena. Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat reportedly put the total crowd at about 64,000, although Guinness counted only the viewers who stayed from the start of the film to the end.
The film was directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay and produced by Nora Awolowo, with actress and producer Omowunmi Dada’s Signet Ring Studios among the production companies, alongside Rixel Studios and FilmOne Studios. Black Market follows five market women who get caught up in a cross-border smuggling operation during a period of fuel scarcity and economic pressure, and the story turns more dangerous when the daughter of one of the women is kidnapped.
The cast includes Dada, Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Scarlet Gomez, Teniola Aladese and Susan Pwajok, alongside Lateef Adedimeji, Ibrahim Yekini, popularly known as Itele D Icon, and Uzor Arukwe.
In an earlier interview with Guardian Life, Dada said she wanted the screening to bring back the experience of watching a Nigerian film with friends, relatives and neighbours, and she also spoke about using Signet Ring Studios to give women more control over the stories they tell.
The event featured music, food and games, with gates opening at 2pm and a red carpet session at about 3pm ahead of the main screening in the evening. Among those present were Deputy Governor Hamzat, Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture Toke Benson, and actors and filmmakers including Lateef Adedimeji, Kunle Remi, Stan Nze, Linda Ejiofor, Gabriel Afolayan, Kunle Afolayan, Real Warri Pikin and Tomi Ojo. The film’s distributor, FilmOne, announced the record on its social media pages shortly after the confirmation.
