I Spent N500m to Shoot ‘Malaika - Toyin Abraham

Posted by Thandiubani on Fri 19th Jan, 2024 - tori.ng

The actress and producer lamented that she spent the amount for her movie only for it to be pirated.

Nigerian actress, Toyin Abraham has revealed the amount she spent to produce her latest movie, Malaika.

According to her, she spent a staggering N500m.

She also lamented about piracy.

The movie, ‘Malaika’ premiered in Lagos on December 17. It also made its theatrical debut on December 22.

The Lagos police command had earlier arrested five suspects over the alleged piracy of the movie.

The suspects were alleged to have fraudulently accessed the movie, uploaded it on their website and created a streaming web link for their social media followers worldwide to freely view the movie.

Reacting to the arrest, Abraham said she experienced panic attacks and was hospitalised after she found out about the piracy of her movie.

The actress said she shot the movie with “close to N500 million”. She said she has taken up the fight against film pirates for the benefit of everyone in the entertainment industry.

“I am actually not okay, I had to come from the hospital. I have been having panic attacks,” she said.

“It is not easy shooting a movie with close to N500 million and you will just see it out there. I saw my movie and another movie, I was like am I dreaming?

“And the next thing they put it on Telegram, telling people that they are going to upload it. I opened the link and I saw Malaika, I wanted to run mad. It was like my whole world was coming to an end right in front of me.

“I started crying but my manager started making calls. We tried to get in touch with Google and Telegram and they started breaking the links. But I know a lot of people still have it.

“I was desperate and went on Telegram to beg those guys because I did not know what to do. This is my life, this is the only thing I do. That is why I have taken it upon myself to fight piracy.”