‘Phone Swap’, ‘Tango with Me’ goes on DVD

Be t t er days are ahead for Nollywood as G-Media has taken the giant step to curb piracy with its recent release of the famous romantic movie produced by Mahmoud Alli-Balogun and Kunle Afolayan’s famous comedy, Phone Swap on DVD.

Gabriel Okoye, otherwise known as Igwe Gabosky, says his outfit, G-Media is set out to revolutionise Nollywood when it comes to distribution. “What we are doing is taking a step to set a standardand eventually curb piracy. We are saying if we can revolutionise distribution of our works in the creative industry things will change. We are seeking to monetize the creative industry.”

 

According to him, GMedia has opened distribution outlets across the country where whole salers can purchase movies directly and sell to the consumers in retail outlets.

“We have opened may outlets to distribute our products. We have discovered that the mode of presentation of Nollywood films is not attractive enough for the consumer. Hence we have developed a standard package which is of global standard. Each DVD comes with a hologram imprinted on the disc and a tamper proof seal on the pack,” he explains.

Okoye says G-Media is starting off with ‘Tango with Me’ and ‘Phone Swap’ because they are good films that have been taken to international festivals. “When you watch them, you will find out that they are worth your money. G-Media is engraved in the package and anything short of that is pirated. They all have unique codes, and our officers moving around can scan them to ensure authenticity,” he says.

Afolayan says his works ‘Figurine’ and ‘Irapada’ come in an attractive package called Kunle Afolayan’s collection, while Ali-Balogun’s ‘Tango with Me’ can be purchased online on Konga. “If you purchase the three films on Konga you will get a discount of N100 on each one,” explains Afolayan.

It would be recalled that Afolayan’s ‘Irapada’ was rated as one of CNN’s listed ‘must watch African movie, made some of the earliest hits at the AMAAs, as Best Indigenous Nigerian Movie in 2007.

The supernatural suspense thriller – The Figurine, won four awards in AMMA 2010, while the romantic comedy – Phone Swap, also held sway in 2012 as one of
the top Nigerian movies in the cinema, also clinching Best Achievement in Production Design.

‘Tango with Me’, shot on film 35mm format, is a romantic drama written by Femi Kayode, starring Genevieve Nnaji, Joseph Benjamin, Joke Silva, Bimbo Manuel, Ahmed Yerima, Kate Henshaw and Bimbo Akintola. The film swept six awards at the maiden edition of Nollywood Movies Awards in 2012 and had six nominations at AMAA 2011.

According to Okoye, fans stand the chance of getting the collection of Afolayan’s works at discounted rate on the online platforms from December 15. He says the packages are complete DVDs with menu.

“Why we get more outflow and low inflow on movie investment in Nigeria is because of the gap in distribution framework. For us to move forward, we have to be selective about the contents we shall be distributing,” says Okoye,” who said his distribution company is proud to start real business with these set of movies, including ‘Onye Ozi’, another film from the producer of Last Flight to Abuja, Obi Omelionye.

Ali-Balogun says GMedia is in touch with all the marketers who are going to buy in bulk and sell at retail prices. In addition, Afolayan says this new model affords retailers the opportunity to make as much as N100 as opposed to N50 that they make on pirated copies.