AY opens up on ’30 Days in Atlanta’

Comedian cum film maker, Ayo Makun, popularly
known as AY, has declared that despite grossing
about N168 million at the box office in Nigeria, he
didn’t think his award-winning romantic comedy film,
“30 Days in Atlanta” made huge returns after all.
AY made this revelation,while speaking at the Film
makers’ forum monthly, organized by the Nollywood
Studies Centre, School of Media and Communication,
Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos.
He spoke on the topic, “30 Days in Atlanta: The
potentials of comedy as a driving force for success
in Film making.”
Sharing the success story of the film, which starred
some of the country’s finest actors, AY admitted
that despite the menace of piracy, the distributor of
the movie, Silverbird Film Distribution, as well as
himself made a fortune from the production. “The
film grossed the sum N168 million in the cinemas,
despite the challenges posed by piracy. I benefited
from the production, but the cinema houses made
more money than I did. But acknowledging the fact
that “30 Days in Atlanta”was my first movie,
everything was based on agreement that we signed
at that time. As a matter of fact, I didn’t see the
movie making much money but it recorded a huge
success in the cinemas,” he said.
On how he was able to overcome the challenges
posed by piracy, AY, who is planning to shoot the
sequel to the award-winning movies said he
embarked on adequate publicity and awareness
campaign.
AY revealed that he’s currently planning to shoot a
sequel to “30 Day in Atlanta”, which he said will be
titled ‘A trip to Jamaica.’ “It is not a sequel to “30
Days in Atlanta.” The new film is expected to hit the
cinemas between June and July after touring
countries like UK, Canada and Jamaica before it
premiers in Nigeria.”
390 Day in Atlanta”, shot in Atlanta, US starred the
likes of Ramsey Noah, Mercy Johnson, Richard
Mofe-Damijo and Hollywood icons, Vivica Fox and
Lynn Whitfield. It premiered in the country on
October 30, 2014, and has since become the highest
earning Nigerian movie at the Box Office..