Nigerian Stories Told in Animated Movies

Animated movies have recently become a real profit puller for many movie studios and it is easy to tell why. I find these movies especially interesting because of the amazing confluence between technology, finance and the business side of making movies. While my keenness in this area is more recent, among the earliest movies of this kind that I watched was The Lion King which saw enormous success both on the screen and as a musical. As a story told against the background of the African Savanna, it confirms that African story telling could be successfully told in Hollywood.

A Nigerian film making corporation is taking African storytelling further by using authentic legends to tell stories in animated form. TransTales Entertainment, which was formed for US$ 5000 has ventured into making animated movies based on African legends and tales and seeks to market them worldwide. 

To my mind, the economics of the animated movie industry makes this the most cost-effective way for rich storytelling from other parts of the world to gain a foothold in the movie business. The reason being that animated stories rely on technology and while this may be expensive, it is takes out the need to get real top dollar actors into the movie. Also significant is the fact that animated movies with a fantasy element have a broad appeal to children and families and this draws families to watch the shows together thus ensuring a reasonable take on ticket sales.