Abdulsalam Hammad
Veteran Nollywood actor and filmmaker, Jide Kosoko, has revealed that he is currently in debt after his cinema film, Eleko: Oba Esugbayi, failed to recover its over N300 million production cost.
Kosoko made the revelation in an interview with African A-List podcast, published on October 17, 2026, a clip of which went viral on Friday and Saturday.
According to him, the historical film which premiered March 14, 2026 and opened in cinemas nationwide March 20, 2026, was his debut cinema production. It tells the story of Oba Esugbayi Eleko, the Lagos monarch who resisted British colonial rule in the early 20th century.
The film stars Femi Branch as the title character, alongside Femi Adebayo, Saidi Balogun, Dele Odule, Yinka Quadri and Kosoko himself. It was distributed by Genesis Pictures.
Speaking on how the film was funded, Kosoko said:
”My film ‘Eleko: Oba Esugbayi’ that recently came out and we took to the cinemas, cost us over N300 million. Do I have 300 million? You should know that some people gave it to me and it was not that they dashed me; they invested in it and we took the film to the cinemas.”
He added: “Different things happened and we did not earn our money back. The little that was earned was split. As I am, if you hear someone with debt dancing around their neck, it is me.”
The film reportedly grossed about N18.3 million in its opening weekend, far below its budget.
Kosoko clarified that the crew members have been paid, but the investors did not get their expected returns. He also acknowledged that cinema owners have huge investments and take large percentage of ticket sales.
His revelation comes weeks after actor Ramsey Nouah said taking films to cinemas is not always profitable, as only a small fraction of cinema releases ever recoup costs after heavy spending on advert and promotion.
Kosoko also revealed in the interview that he has been living with diabetes since 1996.
Nollywood icon Jide Kosoko in debt after N30om movie flop
24
Oct
