The Filmhouse Limited is a film exhibition company in Nigeria and a member on the Board of Trustees of the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria - CEAN. Its corporate headquarter is located at Victoria Island, Lagos.
History
The origin of the company dates back to 2012, when the founding CEO Kene Mkparu, in collaboration with co-founders and members of the board of directors, became the first beneficiary of the Creative and Entertainment Fund provided by The Bank of Industry, with which they kick-started business in December 2012. Founding directors and senior managers of the company are mostly former cinema management staff of Odeon Cinemas, United Kingdom. In 2014, the company went into partnership with investment giants African Capital Alliance to finance its long term expansion goals. In 2018, the board of directors appointed co-founders Kene Okwuosa as Group CEO/Managing Director of Filmhouse Cinemas and Moses Babatope as Group Executive Director.
Expansion
After opening with a 3-Screen cinema in December 2012, at Leisure Mall, Surulere, Lagos, the company expanded its flagship cinema to 8 screens in 2016, with 5 additional screens located in the neighboring Adeniran Ogunsanya Mall. Since 2012, they have opened two cinemas in Ibadan, one each in Port harcourt, Benin, Akure, Kano, Lekki, Oniru and Victoria island in Lagos. The company currently operates 11 cinemas across 6 cities in Nigeria In 2015, the company partnered with Canadian cine-tech giants IMAX to build the first IMAX theater in West Africa – Filmhouse IMAX, Lekki. American cine-tech giants Mediamation released a statement in April 2019, announcing their partnership with the company to build the first MX4Dtheater in West Africa.The technology was unveiled when Filmhouse opened a cinema at Landmark Village, Victoria Island, Lagos in November 2019.
Re-branding
In November 2019, the company announced more expansion and re-branding, unveiling a new logo and tagline via a press statement.
Controversy
The exit of former CEO Kene Mkparu was surrounded with several speculations by the media. Consequently, the company released an official statement signed by members of its board of directors, debunking rumors of any rift associated with his exit. The statement did not however, contain any detail on reason for his exit.
