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Agbara Nla: The Return has recorded over N71 million at the West African box office from its preview screenings, setting multiple records ahead of its official cinema release on October 2, 2026.
The faith-based movie sold more than 12,000 tickets during its previews, recording the biggest single-day preview gross ever in West Africa and the highest preview admissions for a movie in 2026, Nile Entertainment and Nigerian box office reported.
The release marks the return of Agbara Nla 33 years after the original Yoruba Christian film became one of the defining productions of Nigeria’s faith-based movie industry.
The scale of the preview numbers means the movie entered its official nationwide theatrical run on October 2 with more than N71 million already accumulated at the box office.
Agbara Nla breaks box office records
Initial box office data showed the film earned about N70 million from 12,134 admissions, enough to rank as the No. 1 movie of the week despite being shown only as a preview.
Its distributor, Nile Entertainment, subsequently said the figure had crossed N71 million.
- The performance also represents the biggest first-day gross for a Nollywood movie, the biggest Nollywood single-day gross on record and the biggest single-day box office gross recorded in October.
- It also emerged as the biggest opening for a faith-based movie at the West African box office.
The movie’s early box office performance was heavily concentrated in Lagos and the South-West, according to regional revenue data.
- Lagos accounted for 50.8% of Agbara Nla’s revenue, making it the film’s largest market by a significant margin. Oyo followed with 13.2%, while Abuja contributed 10.7%.
- Ogun accounted for another 6.2%, followed by Kwara at 4.5%, Osun at 3.8%, Edo at 3.3% and Ondo at 2.7%.
- Rivers contributed 1.9%, while Plateau accounted for 0.6% and Akwa Ibom 0.5%. Delta and Enugu each contributed 0.4%, while Abia and Kaduna accounted for 0.3% apiece.Cross River and Kano each represented 0.2% of revenue, while Anambra accounted for 0.1%.
The figures show the strength of the movie across its core South-West market. Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Osun and Ondo alone accounted for about 76.7% of reported revenue. Abuja was the strongest market outside the South-West, contributing more than a tenth of the film’s early box office revenue.
Agbara Nla leads weekly box office
Agbara Nla finished ahead of several major titles during the period. Star Lomo recorded N45.8 million from about 7,900 admissions, while Avengers: Endgame – Encore grossed N44.2 million from 7,549 admissions.
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day added N34.5 million, pushing its cumulative West African gross beyond N2.3 billion.
- Resident Evil generated N29.8 million from 4,214 admissions in its second week, taking its cumulative gross to N76.1 million.
19 earned N18 million, while Heart of the Beast recorded N16 million. The Odyssey added N13.3 million, taking its cumulative gross to N871.8 million. King Kosoko and Ikenga generated N8.9 million and N7.7 million, respectively.
Faith-based movies gain box office momentum
Agbara Nla’s record preview comes amid growing commercial momentum for faith-based and faith-influenced films at the Nigerian box office.
- In 2024, What About Us, the filmmaking debut of Celebration Church International’s lead pastor, Emmanuel Iren, grossed N24.6 million during its opening weekend and ranked as the highest-grossing movie in Nigerian cinemas during the period. The film subsequently crossed the N100 million mark, becoming the seventh Nigerian movie to reach the milestone that year.
- The segment recorded another major theatrical performance in 2026 with Laju Iren’s Onobiren: A Woman’s Story. The faith-based drama opened with N30.1 million between March 6 and 8, topping the weekend box office across Nigeria and Ghana.
Onobiren eventually ended its seven-week theatrical run with N138.1 million at the West African box office, placing it among the Nigerian movies to cross N100 million in 2026.
The performance of Agbara Nla, however, represents a significantly larger opening for the segment. Its more than N71 million preview gross is already more than twice Onobiren’s N30.1 million three-day opening and nearly three times the N24.6 million opening weekend recorded by What About Us.
