A-ARTs: Unprecedented Growing Nigerian contents in Hollywood

John Boyega waves to fans on the stage during the premiere of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ on December 27, 2015 in Shanghai, China. Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

In the last two years, there has been what I think is rising Nigerian factors or contents in quite a number of Hollywood films. Either in the characters or the actors, Nigerian contents have been prominent mostly in the leads. The movies are mostly A-list Hollywood works.

New work, Concussion (2015) starring Will Smith as Bennett Omalu, a Nigerian doctor, is a movie about the discovery of long-term neurodegenerative changes in professional athletes. The plot conjures up images of people in lab coats peering into microscopes and that is certainly part of the story, but there’s more.

Also starring in Concussion is Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (British-Nigerian actor).

Chiwetel Ejiofor (British-Nigerian actor) as Solomon Northup (African American) in 12 Years A Slave (2014) got great reviews and won a number of awards, except that Ejiofor missed

John Boyega (British-Nigerian actor) and Rotimi Akinosho (American-Nigerian singer/actor) starred in Imperial Dreams: The plot is about 21-year-old Bambi, a reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles. Boyega stars as Bambi.

Currently, Boyega is the star of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As of December 24, 2015, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has grossed $391.1 million in North America and $422.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $813.5 million, against a budget of $200 million. With the box-office success the movie, Boyega appears to have rubbished racist insinuation about his role in a Star Wars episode.

Art on chessboard with Tunde Onakoya, Lanre Olagoke