T he Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN) has responded to growing concerns over the increasing dominance of celebrity meet-and-greets on movie schedules. In a bid to maintain fair exhibition practices, CEAN is introducing new regulations to ensure that all films—whether widely promoted or not—are given equal opportunities for screening.
While celebrity meet-and-greets can generate excitement and enhance fan engagement, CEAN's Publicity Secretary, Shileola Ibironke, speaking on Newscentral’s Jasiri, highlighted the need to regulate these events to maintain fairness. Ibironke acknowledged the positive impact of celebrity interactions with fans but pointed out that unregulated meet-and-greets were disrupting cinema schedules.
“There is a joyous feel of releasing a movie and the feel that it’s also like a known celebrity that has just released this movie,” Ibironke explained. “So you’re connecting with your fans to come to the cinema hall area for meet-and-greets. It’s actually a two-way connection. Aside from watching the movie, you’re also meeting the celebrity that you follow on social media.”
Despite the excitement these events bring, the unstructured nature of meet-and-greets has raised concerns about their impact on cinema schedules. To address this, CEAN is introducing guidelines to manage how meet-and-greets are organized, without outright banning them.
“It’s not a bad idea to have meet-and-greets, but the way it has been operating, the activities that have occurred around meet-and-greets are what we’re trying to regulate now,” Ibironke stated. “When the meet-and-greet happens, it should be at designated areas.”
The goal, Ibironke emphasized, is to ensure that all movies—regardless of their marketing strength or celebrity involvement—are given equal attention in cinemas.
“We are not banning meet-and-greets, we’re just saying that we must have fair operations for all movies because we’re an exhibiting platform. We must showcase all movies and promote them,” she said.
She also stressed that films without major social media hype should not be overlooked. "Even if your movie does not have the right buzzword outside, you should still have a fair operating exhibiting time, and the other new movies should not shroud and overcloud other titles that have been showcased on the movie schedule per day."
With these new regulations in place, CEAN hopes to strike a balance between celebrity engagements and ensuring that all films, whether big or small, get the opportunity to shine on the big screen.
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