Come on Barbie, let's go party in Kenya

Life in plastic, it's fantastic... for Hollywood's Barbie! But when's the last time you were this hyped for a Kenyan movie? The numbers don't look good for us

One thing’s for sure, Barbie has one of the most insane marketing budgets. We thought Marvel was big? Warner Bros and Mattel (the company behind Barbie), have shown us that pink is actually a beautiful colour and we will love it. In Kenya, we even have local clothing companies selling capsule collections dedicated to Barbie. There’s a local arts and culture magazine that has changed their logo to match Barbie’s pink. In light of the ongoing demonstrations against the rising living costs in the country, Tiktok was, as expected, filled with funny takes on the need to call off the demos for at least a day so that people have a chance to go watch Barbie. If you search for ‘Barbie movie Kenya’ on Tiktok, there are over 16M views. The hype is real.

Are we ever going to get a Kenyan film that gets this much hype? Or even an African film that unites people like this? Forget Black Panther. I mean a movie wholly produced and marketed in the continent.

Numbers don’t lie

Hollywood is powerful. That’s the truth. Their movies make some serious bank. That’s the truth. Have you ever thought about how those numbers look like contextually? You’ll be shocked, just as I was. Take a look at this:

Hollywood has consistently made millions of dollars each year from Kenyan filmgoers. Since 2014, Hollywood has raked in over $3.4m annually. And hey, this is just in Kenya. The figures from 2019 are estimates and the figures for 2023 are projections but they are not too far off.

Cinemas are in the business of making money and they will prioritize movies that will pay their bills which means Hollywood films.

Rafiki has been one of Kenya’s best global export, making around $176,513 from the global box office. The First Grader, which is based on true events of a Kenyan octogenarian learner which featured Oliver Litondo & Oscar nominee Naomie Harris, but sadly ended up being filmed in South Africa, made roughly $355,731 from the global box office.

Supa Modo, one very fine film that brought tears to so many of us at the big screen, was also one of Kenya’s top performing films of 2018 sales-wise.

It’s sad, disappointing and outright frustrating that few of us can name even one Kenyan film that screened this year. And not because we don’t know, but because they have been that few so far. Damn!

A win is a win

In other good news, we are fairing on quite well when it comes to having our films on streaming platforms. Disconnect: The Wedding Planner, a sequel to Disconnect, released on Netflix around January this year with major hype.

There were interviews, reviews, memes around the film. Whether you loved it or not, it got the recognition it rightfully deserved.

Showmax and Netflix have been key players in the local entertainment industry and I commend them for that. Showmax released Faithless and Second Family this year, while Netflix together with UNESCO made possible the anthology series African Folktales: Reimagined. Pfft, I know these are not films, however, it goes to show there’s progress.

The Future

Perhaps we should accept that streaming is king. Cinemas are dying and this is being witnessed globally. Making feature films is also not only an expensive affair, but marketing the film is also costly.

Kenya has had good years where our movies have really made an impact and perhaps 2023 is just not our year. However, Barbie & Hollywood’s success prove that we are willing to go to the cinema in droves. We made a splash with Nairobi Half Life and others, so it can only be a matter of time for a Kenyan film to shine again.

Our industry is not well-oiled like the Hollywood machine, but we will and should keep on supporting quality Kenyan films.

I don’t know how we’re going to do it, I don’t know if we’ll even ever get to where we want to but I believe in our filmmakers.

I believe they have wonderful stories to tell and I will be there when they share their magic with the world, will you?