‘The Black Book’ ranks number 1 globally on Netflix

‘The Black Book’ ranks number 1 globally on Netflix

By Agnes Okoh

‘The Black Book’, the Nigerian action film directed by Editi Effiong, is now ranked the number one movie on Netflix across the world.

The crime thriller film was released on Netflix on September 22.

The movie featured prominent actors such as Richard Mofe-Damijo, Alex Usifo, Sam Dede, Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett, Denola Grey, Shaffy Bello and Ireti Doyle.

According to Flix Patrol, the platform that collects streaming data about movies and TV shows, ‘The Black Book’ secures the first position on the top 10 movies chart on Netflix — as of September 26, 2023.

The Nigerian film (658) was ranked ahead of ‘Spy Kids: Armageddon’ (613), ‘Love at First Sight’ (501) and ‘Jaane Jane’ (387).

On Tuesday, Effiong, the film producer and director, also took to X, formerly Twitter, to express excitement over the feat.

The filmmaker said representatives from Netflix called him to inform him of the movie’s global success.

“Just got off a call with Netflix. #TheBlackBook is a global hit! The biggest film out of Nigeria on Netflix ever,” he wrote.

‘The Black Book’ has also been ranked as the number one movie in 12 counties since its debut.

The countries include the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Kenya, Martinique, Panama, Poland, Romania, Venezuela and Nigeria.

On Netflix’s weekly ranking (September 18-24), ‘The Black Book’ was spotted in the fourth spot. The movie also recorded 11.6 million ‘hours viewed’ worldwide (September 22-24).

‘The Black Book’ is a fictional thriller that explores Nigeria’s history of military dictatorship, drug trafficking and politics, through the journey of a retired hitman.

The movie had earlier been described as “Nigeria’s biggest-budget film to date, with a budget exceeding $1 million.”

Effiong is the founder of Anakle Films, one of the leading movie production companies in Nigeria.

He has produced top Nigerian movies, including ‘Set Up’, ‘Up North’, and ‘Fishbone’.

He has also received several recognitions for his craft.