Nollywood crime thriller Black Market has set a new Guinness World Record after 51,000 people watched the film at a single screening at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) in Lagos.
The record-breaking screening took place on Saturday, September 26, 2026, as thousands of movie lovers gathered at the iconic Lagos venue for the film’s premiere and the official record attempt. Guinness World Records subsequently recognised 51,000 viewers as the qualifying attendance for the achievement.
The feat surpassed the previous Guinness World Records benchmark of 43,624 people, set in 2015 when the Filipino film Felix Manalo was screened at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Philippines. The Black Market organisers had set a target of at least 50,000 simultaneous viewers in an effort to surpass the existing record.
The figure recognised by Guinness was lower than the total number of people reported to have attended the event. Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat said about 64,000 people were present, but Guinness used the number of viewers who remained from the beginning of the movie until the end when determining the qualifying attendance.
The announcement triggered celebrations at TBS, with cheers and fireworks following confirmation of the record. FilmOne Entertainment, the movie’s distributor, also celebrated the achievement, describing the gathering as a historic moment for Nigerian cinema.
Large crowds began arriving several hours before the screening, with long queues reported around the venue. The gates opened at about 2pm, followed by a red-carpet event before the main screening began in the evening. The programme also included music, food, games and other entertainment activities.
Black Market was produced by Rixel Studios, Signet Ring Studios and FilmOne Studios, with FilmOne Entertainment serving as distributor. The record attempt was organised by Switch Visuals. The film was directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay and co-written by Gimsay and Abdul Tijani-Ahmed.
The crime thriller centres on five women involved in a cross-border smuggling operation whose lives are disrupted after the daughter of one of them is kidnapped. The cast includes Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Lateef Adedimeji, Omowunmi Dada, Scarlet Gomez, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok, Ibrahim Yekini, popularly known as Itele, and Uzor Arukwe.
The achievement adds another international milestone to Nigeria’s film industry, demonstrating the ability of a Nollywood production to mobilise a large audience outside the conventional cinema environment.
With the Guinness recognition, Black Market has now surpassed the previous record for the largest audience gathered for a film screening at a single location, placing the Lagos event among the latest world-record achievements associated with Nigeria’s entertainment industry.