Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood: Film Industries around the World

We all are familiar with Hollywood. Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Jennifer Lawrence... lots of action, adventure, and drama.

“Show me the money!” “Go ahead, make my day.” “Bond. James Bond.”

I would assume most of you reading this are also familiar with Bollywood - India’s booming movie industry.

Bollywood is well known, because it is said to be the largest film industry in the world, in terms of number of films released. This is sort of correct. There seems to be some confusion surrounding the term Bollywood and what it actually refers to.

Indian cinema as a whole is the largest in the world. Hindi-language movies make up 43% of Indian net box office revenue. That 43% is really what Bollywood is supposed to refer to; however, the stats out there that state Bollywood is the largest movie industry in the world are really referring to the entire Indian movie industry. In terms of number of movies produced, the Indian film industry is number one.

Number two is Nollywood - Nigeria’s movie industry. Like with Bollywood, there is some controversy around the name and definition. The numbers that put it at the number two spot are likely accounting for all Nigerian films; however, Nollywood, to many, refers only to the English-language films with production in Lagos.

The third largest producer of movies is Hollywood. I think many Americans would say that this includes all films produced in the US; however, I’m sure there are critics out there that would argue that there are other groups in film not represented in the numbers.

Putting aside the controversy for a moment, Indian cinema is #1, Nigerian cinema #2, and US cinema #3 - again, in terms of number of movies produced (not revenue).

Here are some other catchy names for movie industries around the world:

1 - Dhallywood — The Bangladeshi film industry

2 - Follywood — The Sri Lankan film industry

3 - Lollywood — Punjabi films of the Pakistani film industry

4 - Ghollywood — The Ghanaian film industry

5 - Swahiliwood — The Tanzanian film industry

6 - Riverwood — The Kenyan film industry

7 - Chinawood — The Chinese film industry

8 - Chollywood — The Peruvian film industry

9 - Aussiewood — The Australian film industry

10 - Hallyuwood — The South Korean film industry

What are some names of movie industries from other countries? I’d love to hear them!

Contact me at hello@nicolebarile.com if you’d like to learn more or visit me here. #futureofglobalwork