Call of My Life has become the highest-grossing Nigerian production of 2026. Nairametrics reported the film crossing ₦855 million on 11 August, with distributor FilmOne posting: "N855 MILLION and still counting! Call of My Life continues its incredible box office run."

The film is a romantic comedy directed by Dammy Twitch and written by Uzoamaka Power, who also stars. The cast includes Zubby Michael, Nkem Owoh, Patience Ozokwor, Beverly Osu, Broda Shaggi and Andrew Yaw Bunting.

The number behind the number

The gross is the headline, but the figure I keep going back to is admissions. Nigerian cinemas recorded 752,136 admissions in Q1 2026, up from 661,720 in Q1 2025 — the strongest first quarter in six years. That is not one film getting lucky. That is more people, more often, choosing to leave the house and pay for a ticket.

For comparison, Love and New Notes took ₦328 million in March and was, at the time, the top West African release of the year. Call of My Life has more than doubled it.

What I think this means for us

The good: a cast list like that — Nkem Owoh and Patience Ozokwor next to Broda Shaggi — tells you the audience is not split into "old Nollywood" and "new Nollywood" the way the internet insists it is. People came for all of it.

The part that worries me: ₦855 million sounds enormous until you remember what a cinema ticket costs now and how few screens this country actually has. A film can be a national event and still be seen by a fraction of the people who would watch it free on their phone. That gap is exactly the gap CelebIsland sits in.

Your turn

• Have you seen it? Was it worth the ticket, honestly?
• Do cinema numbers even measure Nollywood any more, when most people watch on YouTube?
• Which 2026 Nigerian film deserved a bigger run than it got?

Figures cited from Nairametrics and FilmOne Entertainment's public announcements.