Media entrepreneur and author EbonyLife Group founder Mo Abudu has rejected allegations that cinemas deliberately sabotage certain films, saying screening decisions are based strictly on audience turnout and business sustainability, not sentiment or favouritism.

Abudu spoke on Arise Television where she appeared alongside actress Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde to discuss the ongoing controversy surrounding cinema practices in Nigeria.

The conversation follows weeks of public complaints by several Nollywood producers, including Toyin Abraham, Niyi Akinmolayan and Ini Edo, who accused some cinemas of sidelining their films through poor screening times, limited daily slots and alleged attempts to divert audiences to other movies.

While Omotola acknowledged that such complaints have become widespread, Abudu firmly denied that such practices occur at EbonyLife Cinemas, which she owns.

Omotola, who has recently been in the news for criticising what she described as unprofessional practices by some producers, said she had heard repeated accounts of films being sidelined.

“I have heard these things,” she said. “People have been saying this. Actors themselves have come out to say this has happened to them. And there are some fans too who corroborate these stories, confirming that some people convinced them to watch one movie apart from the movie they came to see.”

Responding, Abudu said she could not speak for all cinema operators but was confident that the allegations did not apply to EbonyLife Cinemas.

“I can’t speak for all the cinemas, but I can certainly speak for EbonyLife Cinemas — it’s not true,” she said. “We run a professional business. Our return on investment depends very heavily on making sure that we have people sitting in every single cinema.”

She explained that it would make no commercial sense for cinemas to deliberately restrict screenings or discourage audiences from watching particular films.

“It is in our interest to ensure that every cinema is full,” Abudu said. “We have five cinemas in EbonyLife. We do about 30 screenings a day. That’s about 900 screenings in a month. There is plenty of space.”

Addressing complaints about peak-hour slots, she argued that demand does not always match expectations. “Even if you say people prefer peak hours, and they get 50% of that, that’s still about 450 screenings in a month,” she said.

Abudu also explained how screening times are adjusted based on performance. According to her, cinemas must balance creative interests with operational costs such as electricity, air conditioning and staff salaries.

“When your film is in our cinema and it has no audience, and I am running air conditioning and paying staff, and you only have two or three people in a 100-seater cinema, by the next week we are going to have a conversation,” she said. “That time slot can no longer really work.”

She stressed that these decisions are not personal and apply to all producers, regardless of status or ownership. “There is no sentiment to anybody being in the cinema space,” Abudu said.

She referenced a film produced by her daughter, Temidayo Abudu, which was pulled from cinemas due to low turnout. “My daughter had a film in the cinema last year. When it wasn’t performing, we had to move the film out. So there is no sentiment,” she said.

“This is about return on investment. It does not matter who owns the film. If I, Mo Abudu, make a film and we are not able to fill up the seats, it’s going to give way to the next film that can,” she added.

The comments come amid growing tension between filmmakers and cinema operators, especially during December, Nigeria’s busiest cinema season.

In December, Toyin Abraham alleged that cinemas falsely declared her film Oversabi Aunty sold out and assigned it poor screening times, while Niyi Akinmolayan accused some cinemas of collecting ticket money without showing his film Colours of Fire. Ini Edo also described her experience as a first-time producer as exhausting, citing what she called “gatekeeping and intimidation.”