Mo Abudu’s Oloture Reaches Netflix’s Global Top Ten Within Days of its Release

Mo Abudu’s Oloture Reaches Netflix’s Global Top Ten in Within Days of its Release

Inspired by the undercover work of a Premium Times journalist, Tobore Ovuorie’s 2014 undercover report with the title “Inside Nigeria’s ruthless human trafficking mafia”, Oloture, a movie directed by award-winning Nigerian filmmaker, Kenneth Gyang and executively produced by Mo’ Abudu has topped the view list on Netflix, becoming one of the top ten movies watched on the international streaming platform within ten days of its launch.

Oloture is the second Nollywood movie to be released as a Netflix Original after the Lionheart movie by Genevieve Nnaji. The movie features Nollywood actors including Sharon Ooja, Omowunmi Dada, Beverly Osu, Kemi Lala Akindoju, Adebukola Oladipupo and Sambisa Nzeribe.

In the movie, Oloture-played by Sharon Ooja, Sharon depicts a young Nigerian journalist who goes undercover to expose sex trafficking in the Lagos, modelling the true-life experiences of Tobore Ovuorie.

According to Tobore, in an interview with CNN, she told CNN that women often get trafficked as a result of their need to make money abroad. While undercover, Tobore posed as a sex worker on the streets of Lagos, looking to travel to Europe, there she met many women in the course of her reporting who wanted to get to Europe in hopes of better job opportunities that would earn them more money making them easy prey traffickers.

After acquiring distribution rights to the film in September 2020, Netflix started streaming Oloture across the world on the 2^nd of October,2020. Within 24 hours of its release, the film ascended to number 1 in Nigeria and 6 other countries. On Monday the 5^th of October, it hit the Netflix global top 10, reflecting the total streaming figures for 87 countries.

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Thrilled by the worldwide response to Oloture, Executive Producer of the movie, Mo Abudu said, “We made Oloture highlight an issue that affects African women but we had no idea of the impact it would have around the world. Clearly, the themes resonate with the global audience and people identify with the plight of exploited women everywhere. I hope this reaction inspires Nigerian filmmakers to tell more stories that depict our society’s challenges, even as we highlight our successes.”