THE KING OF THIEVES IS IN YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD
Reinforcing , revitalising, preserving and promoting indigenous cultural memory and identity have been in the front burners of scholars’ discourses, seminars and conferences across the globe. This is in line with the United Nations General Assembly designation of years 2022-2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages in order to raise awareness of the critical state of numerous Indigenous languages around the world.
It is established that, the key to cultural preservation is the indigenous language of expression. And the most viable and impactful conveyor belt between generations to generations is the popular art- film.
These facts as enumerated above may not be unconnected from the professional and symbiotic relationship between Anthills Studios of Niyi Akinmolayan and Euphoria 360 of Femi Adebayo that gave birth to the talk of the town’s epic Yoruba film that draws its title partly from Ifa corpus – ogundabede, a Yoruba mythological character that is believed to be the ‘King of Thieves.’
Code named the King of Thieves, the product of the marriage between the two organisations has been described as the first in a series of high-budget Yoruba epics set to be released as part of new studio cooperation between Niyi Akinmolayan’s Anthill Studios and Adebayo’s Euphoria 360.
Principal photography of the film was shot in June 2021. The trailer was released on 3rd March, 2002. The premier is scheduled to hold on 3rd April at the Imax cinemas, Lekki in Lagos state, while all the big screens in the cinemas would start beaming the much awaited film from 8th April, 2022.
Scripted by Yinka Laoye from a story by Femi Adebayo, The epic film was shot in Oyo state, Nigeria. It is a traditional story set in the ancient kingdom of Ajeromi. The kingdom is under the grip of a fearful and ruthless armed robber named Ageshinkole. In the film, Ageshinkole deployed all his supernatural power and viciousness to unleash terror on every part of Ajeromi, killing, maiming and taking possessions of helpless locales. Worried and tired by Ageshinkole‘s plundering of Ajeromi, the kingdom led by the Oba moves to contain and curtail him using the combination of ancestral powers.
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Akinmolayan, a co-producer of the epic justified the rare partnership, “It is important for the industry to scale. There is no industry in the world where scale happens without collaboration. And when this collaboration happens, both parties have understood where their strength lies and must set out to then combine these strengths to not only push boundaries but also break old milestones and achieve new ones to inspire the next generation of creators.” he said
According to Akinmolayan, “all of these combined resources and more is what makes this partnership a solid one, and we are happy to showcase our first project from this slate, Ogundabede – King of Thieves.”
The deal between Euphoria 360 and Anthill Studios will see the studios combine talents, distribution, marketing and post-production resources to create joint projects for multiple platforms.
The film is directed by the duo of Adebayo Tijani and Femi Adebayo Salami and will be distributed by Film One Entertainment. The casts include Femi Adebayo, Odunlade Adekola, Adebayo Salami, Joke Muyiwa, Toyin Abraham, Lateef Adedimeji, Ibrahim Chatta, Peju Ogunmola, Dele Odule, Broda Shaggi, Kunle Afod, Mr Macaroni and Aisha Lawal.
