Nollywood film ‘Black Market’ has broken the Guinness World Record for the largest attendance at a film screening in a single location after 51,000 viewers watched the movie at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos.

The screening took place on Saturday, September 26, as part of the film’s premiere. Guinness World Records recognised 51,000 viewers as the qualifying attendance for the record.

The new figure surpasses the previous record of 43,624 people, set in 2015 during a screening of the Filipino film Felix Manalo at the Philippine Arena in the Philippines.

The number recognised by Guinness World Records differs from the total crowd figure announced at the event. Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat said about 64,000 people attended, while the Guinness figure was based on viewers who stayed from the beginning to the end of the film.

The record attempt had been planned before the screening. In July, the producers announced that Black Market would premiere at TBS with a target of 50,000 viewers, with the aim of surpassing the existing Guinness World Record.

The screening was organised by Rixel Studios in collaboration with FilmOne Studios, Signet Ring Studios and Switch Visuals Production. The film was directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay and written by Gimsay and Abdul Tijani-Ahmed.

Black Market follows five women involved in a cross-border smuggling operation during a period of fuel scarcity. Their operation comes under pressure after the daughter of one of the women, Adesua, is kidnapped.

The film stars Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Lateef Adedimeji, Omowunmi Dada, Scarlet Gomez, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok, Ibrahim Yekini, Uzor Arukwe, Andrew Yaw Bunting, Kanaga Eme Jnr, Tomiwa Tegbe, and other actors.

Omowunmi Dada, who stars as Adesua and serves as an executive producer on the film, previously said the Guinness World Record attempt was part of the plan from the early stages of the project.

Dada said the filmmakers decided against a conventional cinema premiere and instead wanted to use the film to attempt a record.

“Right from when we were writing, way before casting or going on set, we knew this was exactly what we wanted to do. We had even locked down TBS before we went into principal photography,” she said.

The team initially announced a target of 50,000 viewers because the existing record stood at 43,624.