Nollywood’s faith-based cinema has achieved a major commercial milestone with the release of ‘Agbara Nla: The Return’, generating more than ₦71 million from single-day preview screenings. The performance, recorded ahead of the film’s nationwide cinema release, has been described as the biggest single-day preview gross in West Africa. This milestone was announced by the film's distributor, Nile Entertainment.
According to data reported by Nigerian box-office analysis platform NGAboxoffice, the film’s preview performance was about ₦70 million from 12,134 admissions during the September 25–October 1 preview period. The figures were reported as the biggest first-day admissions figure recorded in Nigeria in 2026 and the biggest first-day gross for a Nollywood title.
Nile Entertainment subsequently announced that the earnings had crossed the ₦71 million mark. The distinction between the reported ₦70 million box-office figure and the distributor’s ₦71 million-plus announcement appears to reflect different reporting points or updates to the figures. The achievement is particularly notable because ‘Agbara Nla: The Return’ is not an entirely new intellectual property.
The film is a contemporary reimagining of Mike Bamiloye’s 1993 Christian classic ‘Agbara Nla’, which was later released in English as ‘The Ultimate Power’ in 1994. The original emerged during Nigeria’s VHS and television era, when Christian productions were distributed largely through home video and broadcast television. More than three decades later, the story has been transferred to the cinema screen.
At the centre of the new film is Muwonleru, a community under the influence of the powerful herbalist Isawuru. Two believers, Olaboye and Olatomi, leave their city lives to take the Christian message into the community, setting up a confrontation built around faith, spiritual warfare and opposing forces. Mike Bamiloye reprises his role as Isawuru, while his sons Damilola Mike-Bamiloye and Joshua “JayMikee” Bamiloye direct the new production.
The film’s early box-office performance also illustrates the commercial potential of established Nigerian intellectual property. Damilola Bamiloye previously disclosed that he and Joshua first approached their father about remaking some of Mount Zion’s older stories roughly four years ago. Agbara Nla was among the titles they considered, but Mike Bamiloye initially felt the timing was not right.
The strong preview turnout suggests that the film is drawing on two audiences simultaneously: viewers who remember the original and younger Nigerians encountering the story for the first time. The remake was reportedly shot in about 20 to 21 days, but the filmmakers subsequently invested in modern production techniques, including contemporary cameras, graphics, illustrations and special effects, with the intention of making the story work for a present-day cinema audience.
Key points
- The film 'Agbara Nla: The Return' generated ₦71 million in single-day preview screenings.
- The film is a reimagining of Mike Bamiloye’s 1993 Christian classic 'Agbara Nla'.
- The filmmakers invested in modern production techniques to make the story work for a present-day cinema audience.
