Lionheart – Years Later, Still A One-Hit Wonder
Genevieve Nnaji has only one title, Lionheart under her directorial belt. It got positive reviews and is still the one-hit wonder of Nollywood.
Lionheart by Genevieve Nnaji
Several directors in Nollywood who successfully complete a feature film will always consider doing it a second time.
For most, the first instance is always a hoop and the hardest one. These directors get the first movie to their name but many are hardly a hit.
With a few exceptions, those who get positive reviews back for the first effort, often want to try again. They try to grow their list but it doesn’t always guarantee a hit.
The idea of jumping back into the director’s role is also less scary the second time. So many just take the chance and would often go on for a while to get a hit movie under their belt.
Funke Akindele is one exception for those who continue in the disciple for a while before a hit. She made a hit out of her directorial feature film, Your Excellency, (2019).
The actress/director has some of the biggest Nollywood movies Battle on Buka Street and Omo Ghetto: The Saga under her name.
Other directors try once and just completely leave the discipline behind to go back to acting, especially if reviews are negative.
In 2002, before subsequent directorial pieces, Saint Obi’s, Take Me Maama was the first to demonstrate that a Nollywood director could make a hit out of a one-time effort.
As long as they remain filmmakers, many Nollywood directors are probably going to keep trying until they get both good reviews and a hit movie.
Genevieve Nnaji: The one-time hit director of Nollywood
Genevieve Nnaji specializes in acting and is pretty good at it. Fans almost can’t seem to get enough of her even though she has been in several movies.
In 2018 the actress veered into directing and made Lionheart. The movie grew a buzz and was instantly grabbed by Netflix to be the first original out of Nollywood.
The one obvious thing that influenced Lionheart is the popularity of Genevieve Nnaji throughout her acting career.
Her single directorial piece Lionheart got a lot of positive reviews and keeps making gains for her on Netflix 5 years later. This is the one single thing that most directors struggle to get lucky at.
