Hollywood vs Nollywood: Difference and Comparison

The film industry or simply the motion picture industry contains the commercial and technological filmmaking institutions for instance film production, film studios, etc.

Film studios’ profitability is crucially dependent on the right film project picking. Also, involving the creative teams like visual designs, set designs, cast, etc., and right management.  

There are several film industries across the world namely, Tollywood, Cinema of China, Bollywood, Cinema of Japan, Lollywood, and many more.

Most of the film industry’s names are kept on the basis of the country they are located. In this article, the chief aim is on differentiating Hollywood and Nollywood. 

Key Takeaways

1. Hollywood produces films with larger budgets and more advanced technology than Nollywood.
2. Nollywood has a higher film output, making it the second-largest film industry globally by volume.
3. Hollywood focuses on diverse and global themes, while Nollywood primarily targets African and Nigerian cultures and issues.

Hollywood vs Nollywood 

Hollywood is the American film industry. It is known for producing big-budget movies and has a global reach. It’s films are shot in English and distributed worldwide. Nollywood is the Nigerian film industry. It is known for producing low-budget movies that reflect African culture and values.

Hollywood is also known as Tinseltown, it is lying downtown Los Angeles ’ northwest, it is bounded by Hyperion Avenue and Beverly Boulevard (South), Beverly Hills (West), the Santa Monica mountain’s foothills (North), and Riverside Drive (East).

In Hollywood, the first house was an Adobe building (1853) near Los Angeles then California’s small city. The Nigerian film industry is generally known as Nollywood, and in the last 10 years, Nollywood has exploded.

Now, the most famous cinema in all West Africa than Nigerian film industry has made distinctive by shooting video films on digital video. It has allowed schedules of production to be compressed and immediately brought to market. 

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Hollywood	Nollywood
Founder	Harvey Henderson Wilcox	Ola Balogun
Rank	Third	Second
Production time	Around one year	Seven to ten days
First film	In Old California	Living in Bondage
Country	United States	Nigeria

What is Hollywood? 

Hollywood is an American neighborhood in Los Angele’s central region. For the U.S. film industry, its name has come to be a shorthand reference.

Many of its studios like Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures, Disney, Universal Pictures, and Paramount Pictures were founded there.

In 1903, Hollywood was incorporated as a multi municipality. In 1910, it was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles, and soon thereafter a vital film industry emerged and eventually in the world became the most recognizable.  

Due to Hollywood’s importance in the United State’s movie industry, the whole industry is often known as Hollywood. Even not all movies are mainly made in Hollywood.

In 1923, the huge Hollywood sign was built, and the sign is made of big letters.  

Several historic Hollywood theaters are used as concert stages and venues to premiere major releases of theatrical and host Academy Awards. In 1910, the first movie was directed by D.W. Griffith, which was 17 minutes short film. 

What is Nollywood? 

Nollywood is a sobriquet which originally described to the film industry of Nigerian. The term origin dates back to the 2000s and traced to an article namely, The New York Times.

It is generally divided along marginally ethnic and religious, and religious lines.  

Due to the evolving contexts and meaning’s history, there is no agree upon or clear definition for the term. This led to several controversial subjects.

There are distinct film industries in which each seeks to portray the particular section’s concern and ethnicity it represents.  

In addition to Nollywood’s extensive coverage by mainstream media in Nigeria, a couple of online publications introduced content exclusively to the industry.

Nollywood Babylon, This is Nollywood, Jamie Meltzer’s Welcome to the Nollywood are some of the documentaries intended to introduce Nollywood to the audience (Western).  

In 2012, the announcement was made to celebrate Hollywood’s 20th anniversary. After the direct video movie’s release, namely Living in Bondage marked the 20th year.

In the video film era, this movie arguably marked a boom. But eventually, the anniversary was celebrated in June 2013. 

Main Differences Hollywood and Nollywood 

1. After Hollywood movies are released they are viewed in theaters, and hence from ticketing people make a lot of money behind their production. Conversely, after release Nollywood movies are put on DVDs, and further sold in stores. As the average citizen cannot afford tickets and also theaters are few.  
2. Hollywood stars are recognized around the world and are also from different nationalities. On the other hand, there are many Nigerian stars in Nollywood movies with a quite slow in comparison to those Hollywood movies cast.  
3. When it comes to quality, Hollywood films use advanced technology like special effects. The studios are popular worldwide and are well planned. On contrary, Nollywood is not concerned with quality, and studios are unknown. These movies have no trailers for the stars and no sound stages.   
4. Hollywood movies have a professional cast and petty women which have perfect features like smooth hair. On the other hand, the lead women and men are diverse in Nollywood as a pretty woman can be fat with warts and short hair.  
5. The theme of Hollywood movies is around any topic really, out and in of this world. It can be based on fiction or simply on the true story. They tackle international and local issues, controversy, violence, sex, etc. Meanwhile, Nollywood movies are related to social-political issues and drama, but there is nothing controversial or fictional. 

References  

1. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=9Rnmj3nAgKAC&oi=fnd&pg=PP9&dq=hollywood&ots=0eLGXSXLZZ&sig=KNT8aYWxGHUQYV0EGFGCclHRm80
2. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cHUpDQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=nollywood&ots=NEoUF79huZ&sig=H2NxNfuV1MJwqp9_n8oYBE9YjEU