Popular comedian, Ayo Makun, aka AY, has been in tears since news reached him that his yet-to-be-released film, 30 Days in Atlanta, has been pirated by some people in Alaba, Lagos. YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine could not unearth how the pirates came about the mastertape of the film with which they perpetrated their evil act, however, accusing fingers are currently pointing in the direction of one of the film houses where AY has been showing the film.
30 Days in Atlanta, starring AY, Richard Mofe Damijo, Ramsey Nouah, Ada Ameh and others, has so far grossed over N100m from the cinemas. Also eagerly being awaited on home video by film addicts, the pirated copies, we learnt, are now selling massively, and fetching the pirates so much money.
Identities of those behind this will soon come to the fore. Meanwhile, top movie producer and distributor, Chief Gab Okoye, aka Gabosky, stormed the den of Alaba pirates on Monday, February 9, 2015 with some policemen and agents of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC). Gabosky had gotten wind that two of the movies being distributed by his company, Tango With Me (by Mahmood Alli-Balogun) and Phone Swap (by Kunle Afolayan) were being heavily pirated and sold there. Unfortunately, the whole thing turned sour at some point as some of the pirates went violent, stabbing some of the policemen and inflicting injuries on them.
“Gabosky shut down Alaba after learning that Tango With Me and Phone Swap had been pirated in China by some of these guys and were brought in, in a 40-feet container. At Alaba, the pirates fought back, attacking the policemen that went with us and even breaking bottles on their heads”, confirmed one insider. It was also this insider that told YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine that it was in the course of the visit that it was uncovered that AY’s 30 Days in Atlanta is now in the market, even though the movie was yet to be released. AY is said to be currently out of town due to bereavement.
Contacted on Wednesday, February 11, 2015, Gabosky confirmed the story, adding that the entire creative industry in Nigeria should join hands with him to fight these pirates. “Yes, the story is true. I cant release 30 Days in Atlanta again because they have released the pirated copy, just like they did to Half of A Yellow Sun. The creative industry should join hands with me in this fight, but the ones (Donatus Madu and Samuel Oluchukwu Eze) we have arrested, I’m going to prosecute them. Simple!”