In July, Plugged exclusively reported that actor Daniel Kaluuya had plans to visit Uganda this month and that he would host the African premiere of Nope, a new sci-fi horror directed by Jordan Peele.
According to a correspondence between Kaluuya’s team and the Ugandan government, August 17 or 18 were the dates that Kaluuya’s team along with Universal Pictures were considering for the Kampala event.
However, it now turns out the plug has been pulled, due to a combination of factors.
One of them being Kaluuya’s shootings which overlapped with the August window for his scheduled visit to Kampala
In July, we had reported that the Kampala premiere had initially been scheduled for July only to be pushed as Kaluuya’s team was still involved in shootings and other premieres elsewhere.
More importantly though, a source privy to the details of the discussions between Kampala and L.A (Kaluuya’s office) revealed, Universal Pictures wasn’t as convinced as Kaluuya that Kampala was an ideal pick for the Africa premiere for Nope.
A logical reasoning being – Universal would ordinarily opt for a city with a more thriving film and TV industry, and more eyeballs. It would therefore be irrational to put Uganda before say South Africa, Nigeria or Kenya.
Going by the investment approach for international streaming services in the Africa market, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya have had an edge. Netflix, Disney, BBC Studios, Sony Pictures, Amazon and several others have recently made efforts to gain a foothold in Africa with the bulk of their investment going to Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya.
As markets of these services have stagnated elsewhere (North America and Europe) in the midst of cutthroat competition, Africa whose subscription video on demand market generated $107m in 2021, seems like the next frontier.
Universal must have weighed its options from this (business) perspective.
On the other hand, Kaluuya who is originally Ugandan had his own personal biases for which he wanted Kampala to host this premiere. Born in London to Ugandan immigrant parents, Kaluuya, 33, grew up with his mother, Damalie Namusoke and an older sister on a housing project in Camden, North London.
In a July 7, 2022 letter obtained by Plugged, a representative from Kaluuya’s office wrote to the office of the Senior Presidential Advisor Diaspora Affairs in the President’s Office (Kampala) that having Kampala as part of the global premieres “is of utmost importance to all of us, especially to Mr Kaluuya”.
The sluggishness on the part of the Ugandan government, in pursuing this opportunity, could also explain the futility of this project.
One of the concerns that Kaluuya’s office expressed back in July was the delayed confirmation from Uganda Media Council, the body responsible for setting the ratings for the movie as well as gazetting the official release date.
“My question for you is, would you please be able to assist us with contacting this official body so we can coordinate the release date with the date of the premiere? This is essential in order to make the event as timely, special and of course official as possible as this is the protocol for major Hollywood movie releases,” reads a letter from Kaluuya’s office, to the office of the Senior Presidential Advisor Diaspora Affairs in the President’s Office.
“But he could be coming towards the end of the year. But not necessarily for a premiere,” a source told Plugged Monday.
What has Uganda missed?
This is the third time Uganda is losing an opportunity to host a movie premiere featuring Kaluuya. The first time was Black Panther while the other was Queen & Slim.
A source in the local entertainment industry, versed with these attempts says it is not by coincidence that all these three times have been futile. The source attributes it to the careless attitude and corruption on the part of government.
“We were supposed to have a Black Panther premiere in Uganda, but someone in government wanted a kick back. This frustrated the process. For Queen & Slim, it was Covid that disrupted it,” the source who preferred anonymity said.
“For Nope, I suspect the ground team here in Uganda was a bit disorganized. I think the team here in Uganda has not hosted a star before. Had they consulted those with knowledge of how this works, it would have been better. I don’t think Daniel’s team was convinced that Uganda had done enough. Daniel is a star. Him coming to Uganda would be a big deal for the country’s tourism. Government should approach such a project with much more seriousness. I hope we have learnt lessons.”
Hosting a premiere for a Hollywood movie like Nope which is not only directed by a reputable director and is distributed by Universal Pictures, would not only raise Uganda’s profile globally, it would have financial impact on the local entertainment industry.
For example, when Uganda hosted the world premiere for Queen of Katwe in 2016 which was attended by Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo, the film grossed over Ushs 1 billion in the Ugandan cinemas.
On the charts for most grossed movies ever on the Ugandan Box Office, Queen of Katwe only comes second to Black Panther. This was because of the aggressive marketing that was tied to the Queen of Katwe (world) premiere.
“We had international marketing companies that came along to market the movie locally. Professional marketing companies from Hollywood putting all their resources on the local market, to make a movie a success. For the first time, we had people flying in to Uganda to watch movies,” Acram Juuko, the Head of Events and Marketing at Century Cinemax, told Plugged.
Century Cinemax screened Queen of Katwe for 5 months as opposed to blockbusters (in the league of Avengers, Infinity Wars, Fantastic Four) which will be screened for 3 months on average.
The local cinemas expected a similar ripple effect from the Nope premiere, given that Kaluuya was to fly in with the director, members of the cast as well as a team from Universal.
Century Cinemax, the leading cinema operator in Uganda was scheduled to premiere Nope on July 18. However, due to the planned visit by Kaluuya, the cinema was forced to postpone the premiere for an entire month.
Hollywood gives cinemas a 60-day window to allow them screen movies before they are available online streaming sites and those who sell them on DvDs. By pushing the premiere, Century Cinemax lost an entire month of revenue it would have generated from screening Nope.
“We were also trying to capitalizing on having a big Hollywood star (Kaluuya) coming to our cinema. This was going to create the buzz. And as you know, Uganda’s middle class has grown, and these are the people that this buzz would bring to the cinema. We won’t be getting that for now,” Juuko adds.
Ticket sales in the aftermath of such a premiere would be sustained longer than an ordinary premiere.
The failed visit by Kaluuya is also a loss for the Ugandan filmmakers as there were plans by government to have the actor hold engagements with actors, producers and directors. This would have in effect facilitated a skills transfer and networking which Uganda’s nascent film industry badly needs.
