The place was Isabella Cinema, in Umeuke quarter, Ibusa in Delta State. This was in 1983. Alex Osilonya, in company of his younger brother bought tickets and entered the popular side of the cinema. Showing that day was a popular Chinese film starring Bruce Lee. As the credits opened, there went up a deafening roar from the audience as their favourite actors appeared in a snap preview of the film.
Days after watching the film, animated discussions continue between Osilonya and his cinema-loving friends, for it would be some days again before these impressionable youths would save enough for tickets to experience another night in such a big-screen cinema. However, Chinese films were not the only attraction then. Indian films were equally popular at the time.
From their start to the end, through scene depicting heroism, sacrifice, love, hatred, injustice and other human passions, and the eventual triumph of good over evil, the audience was always held spellbound by the flicking colourful screen. In post-independence Lagos and other cities like Ibadan, Kano and Kaduna, going to the cinema was said to be thrilling for youths and the elderly. It was a time cinemas thrived and cohabitation was less of a luxury. People had fun and social life was not only interesting but was at its peak. Different cinemas and recreational parks scattered across the urban centres and their suburbs.
That era, however, appears to be a thing of the past as times have changed. Today, Osilonya cannot readily recollect when last he crossed the portal of any cinema. This could also be said of thousands of former cinema lovers across the country. For this segment of Nigerians who grew up in the 1970s up till the mid- 1980s, there was this special magic that drew them to the darkened halls of cinemas. In there, people would face a screen on which the operators beamed flickering image-forming light. Incidentally, such veritable landmarks in those days are now relics echoing with long-forgotten histories.
The famous Casino Cinema in Alagomeji, Yaba-Lagos, now houses a Pentecostal church just like Odion Cinema on Lagos Island. Jebako Cine-ma in Idi-Oro, which is occupied presently by a church, is in that league, same as Studio Cinema in Mushin, while the popular Pen Cinema in Agege is today a fast food outlet. For God Dey Cinema in Ajegunle, it has long become a shadow of its former self. In Ibadan, Oyo State capital, Scala Cinema in Sabo is at present a shopping complex. It also hosts parties and social events. The situation is not different in the North, where there used to be a strong cinema culture.
The buildings that housed most of these cinemas are today being put to other uses. Mrs. Atinuke Balogun, a popular face then at Pen Cinema in Agege, Lagos, recalls with nostalgia, those glorious years of the cinema. She was there when long queues of people who wanted to buy tickets would stretch for some 200 metres into the adjoining streets in the neighbourhood. At that time, the over 1, 300 capacity hall would fill up forcing the management of the entertainment centre to stop selling tickets until hours later when another show would start. She could also recall how the Whites, Indians and Lebanese often patronise the cinema.
Ayo Olugbejo, like Balogun, has not easily forgotten the leading outdoor entertainment of yesteryears also. “At that time, unlike now, there was little alternative in entertainment. Outside the cinema, the televisions were few and what they had to offer could not be compared with what you get from cinemas.
“You will remember too that there was only black and white television. So, the pull of full technicolour and alluring sound quality was just too much for people to resist,” he recounted. With a long sigh, Olugbejo narrated the genesis of the dearth of cinema houses. It happened soon after the then military regime devalued the currency and the cost of films jumped up beyond the reach of most cinema distributing companies, he explained.
Like fading dominoes, misfortune thereafter dogged the cinema industry.Olugbejo recalled that on the heels of the War Against Indiscipline (WAI) campaign instituted by the Buhari- Idiagbon regime, overzealous law enforcement agents swooped on real and perceived hotbeds of “indiscipline,” among which were the cinema houses.
The police threw caution to the winds as they discarded their former standard operating procedure of approaching the cinema managers whenever they wanted to effect the arrest of any suspect they believed may have gained access into the cinema. In the new order, they would just descend on the place, arresting everybody in the cinema as suspects until they could prove their respective innocence. In the face of this, erstwhile patrons soon began giving the cinema a wide berth because of the fear of the police. “Responsible people could not come to the cinema again, as they gave the entertainment houses a leprous distance,” Olugbejo said.
But, it was not as if players in the industry just folded their arms and resigned themselves to fate. The cinema and video association of Nigeria took their case to the police commissioner at the time, who, it was gathered, promised to stop his men from carrying out indiscriminate arrests. Unfortunately, the man, according to investigations, was transferred to another command and the practice continued unabated. Yet, that was not the only factor that led to the decline of the cinemas. The importation of fairly used (tokunbo) video cassette recorders, VCRs, also played a part. “Following the security situation, people who normally would have visited the cinema found it easy to watch these films in the safety of their homes with their new video machines.
This resulted in another challenge as some VCR owners turned their machines to commercial purposes. “They would put up mushroom viewing centres and began to show these films for a fraction of what was being charged by the cinemas. They didn’t have to worry about taxes,” said a one-time cinema manager who identified himself simply as Tunde.
The Census Board also made effort to see that such viewing houses were shut down. Going by the standard of the Board, a cinema should have, at least two projectors and must be able to contain a minimum of 100 people. Besides, the fire service department must inspect such premises to ascertain the availability of suitable fire extinguishers, adequate emergency exits and other specifications. They must equally buy government tickets from which would be deducted government tax. “We paid about 16 kobo for every N1 we made, but these mushroom viewing houses were not paying anything to the government,” Tunde alleged. A source close to the president, Cinema and Video Association of Nigeria, told Saturday Telegraph that there is nothing left to salvage. A veteran of the cinema entertainment industry, he said that “property-hungry” churches have now acquired almost all the cinema premises in the country.
“Others have been taken over by the eatery joints in every noticeable neighbourhood,” he added.There are also those who believe that it would be difficult to reestablish such budding cinema centres of old. With the peculiar security situation around the country where ubiquitous street urchins known as “Area Boys” hold sway, people, according to this group of opinions, would rather rent the video at the rentals than go and risk their safety at the cinema. Aside from cinema, there used to be parks also in those days where people could take their family for relaxation. “Now they cannot feel safe from molestation during the day in those parks let alone visiting the cinemas in the evenings,” Mallam Ahmed Jaji, a social commentator, told Saturday Telegraph. In spite of this downturn, however, a small army of ardent fans remain.
Anthony Boi, who works in one of the new generation banks in Lagos, is one. He falls into the category of cinema patrons that could be described as “die-hards.” Curiously, despite dwindling patronage, there appears to be a relative success of new entrants into the cinema business. The likes of Silverbird Cinema, scattered in almost all the major cities of Nigeria, presents a good picture in this regard. Ben Murray-Bruce, owner of the entertainment house, uses the advantage of his private television station. But for that, advertising the films shown in the cinema would have offered a financial challenge. Nevertheless, the cinema is a place to be, according to those who have been there.
A first time visitor to Silverbird Cinema, Nnamdi Akabunma said, would surely be impressed with this fairyland of entertainment. Housed in a choice corner lot on Ahmadu Bello Way in Victoria Island, it is a massive shopping mall on four flours containing choice shops, offices, restaurants and the fabled cinema.
The larger than life perception created by constant television advertising campaigns is said to be matched by the sophisticated marketing and management machinery in place for the entertainment company. A staff of the cinema, who does not want his name in print, relates to the newspaper the passion of the president of entertainment at the Silverbird group, Guy Murray-Bruce: “Mr. Murray-Bruce is a man with highly developed family values. “He is desirous of having Nigerians savour the fresh air of the global entertainment industry.
Cinema is one entertainment that pulls crowds. It is a premium medium that gives the family a high entertainment value,” he said. However, the anonymous staff reiterated that the over $10 million cinema edifice is graded by the international cinema authority in the first category. “The nearest thing to what we have here is in South Africa,” he added.
But, as he noted, the country could still accommodate more world-class cinemas in the major urban centres across the country. A renowned security expert, Dr. Ona Ekhomu, is of the belief that the road back to the revival of the cinema culture lies first and foremost in addressing the security question. “If the government would address the security situation in the country, we could probably see a revival of the cinema. Stable power supply must also be put in place. Otherwise, it would be quite exorbitant running the cinemas with generators,” he said.
Veteran film-maker, Eddie Ugbomah, like Ekhomu, agrees that lack of security in the country is responsible for the ugly trend of diminishing cinema culture in the country. But, former chairman of the Association of Nige-rian Theatre Practitioners, Prince Jide Kosoko, disagrees. He rather blamed the collapse of the cinema on filmmakers themselves.
“We’re the architects of our own misfortune,” he said. “The patronage at the theatres then was very high. But when filmmakers started selling on videos, people resented and rather than go to the cinemas, they waited for the film to be released and bought it at a cheaper rate.” Kosoko did not stop there but attributed the collapse of the cinema also to structural faults within the system.
“When the economy of Nigeria took a downturn, sometime during the military era, naira power fell so hard that it became increasingly difficult to get good movies,” he added. To him, the time for cinema resuscitation may still be far. He though, reasoned that once the economy of the nation gets on the path of recovery, patronage of the cinema would experience a change for the better. “In the West where the cinema enjoys a higher quality of life, people frequent cinema when they feel the need to mingle.
They prefer visiting cinema to watching a film even if they have access to the film on their home videos. To them, it promotes life and helps them enjoy it better,” he said. Yet, Ugbomah feels that the time for the first generation cinemas may be about over now. “The world over, cinema business is getting to be a specialised business. You have to be aware of the choices available to your patrons and strive to provide what would be to their taste. “The cinema is a first rate family entertainment medium. And once you are able to provide such in a serene, beautiful and secure environment, you can be sure that people will come,” he concluded.
Just like in the South, patronage is said to have rapidly declined also in the northern part of the country. “The business is no longer as lucrative as before,” was how Aza Msue, who lives in Kaduna, puts it. According to him, Rex Cinema, located in Abubakar Gumi (central) market in Kaduna, which used to seat about 1, 000, and got rapidly filled up in its heyday, is today no more. “It has been acquired by an eatery shop,” he said. Dwindling patronage is equally why Royal Cinema on Ogbomosho Road in Kaduna has closed shop. It is now used as a church. Msue attested to the fact that the palpable air of insecurity and the advent of video films, satellite television and mushroom viewing houses contributed largely to the decline in cinema patronage in the North as is the case across the country.
“Before, people would come with their families but now, only young persons and mostly males manage to visit the few still managing to operate as they are afraid of falling into the hands of robbers when returning home at night. Such people prefer to sit in the comfort of their homes to watch any film of their choice,” Msue said.
But, there are certain things people gain by going to the cinema instead of watching the same film at home. For them, a joy shared is joy doubled and sorrow shared is sorrow halved. This may explain the allure to cinema enthusiast. Unfortunately, Chris Onyema, who lives at Oladoyinbo Street in Aguda-Ogba in Lagos, lamented that almost all the old cinemas in Lagos have been converted to churches and eatery houses.
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