Organisers of Black Market have announced an additional 1,000 seats for the film's September 26 premiere at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, citing overwhelming demand since registration opened. The new capacity is being made available through www.blackmarketmovie.com, as the production pushes toward its target of 50,000 attendees for a Guinness World Record attempt at the largest simultaneous film screening at a single venue.
The current record stands at roughly 43,000 people watching a film at one location, a mark Black Market's producers set out to beat when Rixel Studios first announced the project earlier this year. The attempt is being run in partnership with FilmOne Studios and Switch Visuals Production, alongside co-producers Signet Ring Studios, with backing from a wide list of brand partners including Zenith Bank, Puma, MTN and Bolt.
Directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay from a script she co-wrote with Abdul Tijani-Ahmed, Black Market follows five market women running a smuggling operation across the Nigerian border against a backdrop of fuel scarcity, a fragile arrangement that unravels when a rival kidnaps one of their daughters and threatens to burn the entire operation down. The film was shot in Abeokuta on the Canon EOS C400, with cinematography from producer Nora Awolowo, marking her second collaboration with Canon after Racket Queen.
The cast is led by Lateef Adedimeji and Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, alongside Ibrahim Yekini (Itele D Icon), Scarlet Gomez, Omowunmi Dada, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok, Uzor Arukwe, Folagade Banks, Tomiwa Tegbe, Andrew Yaw Bunting, Shamz Garuba and Adeoluwa Akintoba. Awolowo and Nicole Ofoegbu produced the film, with Dada and Tijani-Ahmed serving as co-producers.
Black Market marks Rixel Studios' second feature, following 2025's Red Circle. FilmOne's Chief Content Officer, Ladun Awobokun, has described the record attempt as a chance to put Nollywood in front of a global audience, while Switch Visuals CEO Damilola Osikoya has framed the project as proof of what young Nigerian filmmakers can pull off through collaboration. With the added seats, organisers are betting that Lagos turns out in numbers large enough to put Nigeria into the record books when the film premieres on September 26.