First Weekly can confirm that the
recently released Nigerian film, ‘Half Of A Yellow Sun (HOAYS), an adaptation
of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel with the same title, has been pirated by
some film sellers in Lagos.
Also, the high budget movie has
been put on the internet for free download.
Checks conducted by First
Weekly revealed that the film is now being sold on the streets of Lagos
at the rate of N150.
HOAYS centres on the Nigerian
civil war, also known as the Biafran War, which took place from July 6, 1967 to
January 15, 1970. It is a story of love, lust, jealousy, greed and it brings to
light the effects of war on the lives of everyone it touches.
Findings by us also showed that
some Nigerian websites have uploaded the film on their platforms for visitors
to download free of charge.
Since its release, the flick has
set a new first weekend box office record in Nigeria. The record came from
showing the movie in 15 cinemas across Nigeria in its first three days with
Lagos cinemas topping the chart.
According to the C.E.O of FilmOne
Distribution, Kene Mkparu, the distributors of the movie; “we have always
maintained that the success of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ is the success of
Nollywood. If ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ succeeds and from the figures we have, it
will succeed, it signifies success for Nollywood. It is our belief that if a
film is well done, the Nigerian audience would respond to it and drive its
success. ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ is a movie about Nigeria and we believe that
Nigerians will drive its success. We are delighted that the Nigerian public has
turned out in full force to support the film. We want to urge everyone, who has
seen this film to go back and see it again and encourage others to see it.”
The movie features BAFTA award
winner and Oscar nominee; Chiwetel Ejiofor, BAFTA award winner Thandie Newton,
Onyeka Onwenu, Genevieve Nnaji, O.C. Ukeje, and Zack Orji.
It was written and directed by
Biyi Bandele and it has been screened at film festivals around the world, and
is already winning several awards, and has been enjoying release in major
international territories including the UK, US and Australia, with plans to release
it across Africa, Latin America and Europe.
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