Recently, pirated DVD copies of "The Wedding Party" found its way to the streets of Lagos for 500 naira.
On Thursday, February 16, 2017, pirated copies of "The Wedding Party," hit the streets, just before a record-breaking celebration party was held for it on Sunday, February 19, 2017.
Few weeks ago, a HD version of the movie was illegally uploaded on YouTube, but was taken down few days later.
Also, illegal copies of the movie with the TIFF watermark have been making the rounds among Nigerians.
A collaboration between EbonyLife Films, FilmOne Distribution, Koga Studios and Inkblot Productions, "The Wedding Party" is currently the highest grossing Nollywood movie and was directed by Kemi Adetiba.
Pulse Movies reached out to the producers of the movie, and responding, Koga Studios said a link to the movie probably got into the wrong hands.
On how the piracy could have happened, the studio said, "we cannot be 100% sure about how exactly it happened as we took all measures to ensure the movie went through the highest form of coding and was well secured."
"Hence, we can only assume that probably the link where the movie was sent to TIFF (Toronto international film festival) got into the hands of someone who was careless with it or made a mistake to open it up to a wrong person, because the copy I saw had the label of TIFF on it."
"But like I said, this is only based on assumptions and I believe the issue is being investigated," Abiola Omotola, a representative of the Studios said to Pulse Movies.
On how the piracy would affect the financial returns of the movie which is still showing in cinemas, Omotola said, "for now, "The Wedding Party" movie has broken all records as the highest grossing movie in Nigeria cinema even with the recession and despite the piracy, it has been a great success."
On steps and actions taken to address the issue, Koga Studios said, "the movie is a product of a collective Elfike, made up of Ebonylife, Filmone, Koga Entertainment and Inkblot and very soon the collective would let everyone know what is being done."
ALSO READ: Review of Kemi Adetiba's "The Wedding Party"
Written by playwright, Tosin Otudeko, the movie starred Adesua Etomi, Banky W, Alibaba, Sola Sobowale, Ireti Doyle, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Zainab Balogun, Enyinna Nwigwe, Frank Donga, Saka, AY, Ikechukwu, Beverly Naya, Emma OhMaGod and Lepacious Bose.
Currently the highest grossing Nollywood movie with over 450 million naira, "The Wedding Party" follows the drama that happens during the wedding between a Yoruba bride, Dunni, and an Igbo Groom, Dozie.
