Movie producers and distributors in the hub of the Ghanaian movie
industry, Ashanti Region, often referred to as Kumawood have cried of
their current predicaments due to low patronage of their works citing
the ongoing World cup as a reason.
In an interview Paul Adjei, CEO ofPaul Gee Productions to find out
possible reasons for the low patronage of their movies, he explained
to nydjlive.com thatthe situation was as result of the world cup as
the fever had caught up with everyone leaving the movies on their
(distributors and marketers) shelves without people patronizing them.
"Most often people would want to watch our movies after work but here
is the case football matches are being telecast on almost all the TV
networks during those times. Even if they would want to watch the
movies, how many families have two TVs so that they would not cause
any trouble at home as the men would want to watch the football
matches? This has therefore prevented people from buying our movies."
Asked why they would still produce and release movies during such a
season, he explained a total drought will be disastrous to the
industry hence the decision to release some movies. He however added
that many producers had put on hold their movies since it would affect
their returns.
"Each week, six movies are released unto the market but there were
only two this week. Can you imagine why? Because no one wants to run
at a loss"
Similar sentiments were shared by other attendants from movie outlets.
A sales attendant at Osewus Ventures who was also watching a football
game at the time of the interview explained the football season was
just not good for the movie business as patronage has been on the low
despite increased radio adverts and publicity.
Could the low patronage of these movies really be as a result of the
ongoing world cup or something is not right?
