Why we spent so much on October 1 – Kunle Afolayan

By the time October 1, directed by Kunle Afolayan, opens on October 1 across the country, it would have ramped up a budget of more than N200 million.

Afolayan made the revelation at one of the many private screenings so far held as prelude to the nationwide premiere of the movie, which is next only to Half of a Yellow Sun in terms of budget.

“We are certain that from these private screenings, we will be able to make some money also. This goes to subsidise our budget before we go public,” said Afolayan, who revealed that Terra Kulture is chief supporter of the exclusive screenings.

He was speaking at a recent media screening at Filmhouse Cinemas in Lagos, the cinema group that will show the film when it opens to the public in four weeks.

Afolayan explained that October 1, which shoot lasted 60 days, was shot on RED cameras that cost at least N100,000 a day. Production involved over 30 lights and about 100 cast and crew, living and feeding on the production. Post-production alone cost more than N20 million.

If all that money was spent to make a good film, then Afolayan has succeeded in that, as the audiences will attest to when the film opens.

Afolayan said only the colour correction and grading on the film was done outside the country.

“The reason we have spent so much is that we believe strongly that there is so much potential for this kind of film. How many viewers do we really need to be able to recoup that money? It’s not a lot, and the good thing is that now, you have Filmhouse, whose cinema chain seems to be expanding every day. And they have already said to me that by the time we are releasing it in October, they will be having like 20 screens, compared to the six that we had when we released The Figurine and Phone Swap,” he stated.

A psychological thriller, October 1 begins on September 1960, with Nigeria on the verge of independence from British colonial rule. It tells the story of a Northern Nigeria police detective, Dan Waziri (Sadiq Daba), who is urgently dispatched by the colonial government to the trading post town of Akote in the Western Region. His mission is to solve a series of female murders that have struck horror in the hearts and minds of the local community, and all hell is let loose.