A new year, a new season of Nollywood magic on Netflix. January 2026 is kicking off with movies that set the tone for the months ahead. From thrillers to laugh-out-loud comedies and heart-tugging family dramas, these 10 Nigerian movies are the perfect way to start the year on a high note.
Consider this your Nollywood reset.
10. The Waiter (2024)
Running time: 1h 40m
Director: Toka McBaror
Genre: Comedy
Akpos (Ayo Makun) is back, the same lovable troublemaker we met in 30 Days in Atlanta, is back and is just trying to survive his first day as a waiter in a swanky Abuja hotel. The place is buzzing with anticipation for a big event hosted by the Minister of Poverty Alleviation, Okon Edet (Shaffy Bello), when everything goes sideways. Tonye (Bucci Franklin), a heavily armed ex-army captain and his crew take the guests hostage ,and Akpos finds himself in the middle of a mission to save the day.
9. The Millions (2019)
Running time: 1h 34m
Director: Toka McBaror
Genre: Comedy
In The Millions, nothing is as simple as it seems and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Bem Kator (Ramsey Nouah) is a charming, quick-witted con artist with one goal: to pull off Nigeria’s biggest heist. To do it, he rounds up a team as unpredictable as it is talented: Jerome (Blossom Chukwujekwu), the slick operator; Wole Baba (Ayo Makun), the wildcard with a knack for chaos; and Ivey (Nancy Isime), the enigma whose loyalty is anyone’s guess. Together, they set their sights on a billionaire’s basement, where $42 million awaits if they can actually get to it.
But as the heist draws closer, secrets bubble to the surface, alliances shift, and no one’s motives are what they first were.
Watch The Millions on Netflix.
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8. Your Excellency (2019)
Running time: 2h
Director: Funke Akindele
Genre: Comedy, Political Drama
Chief Olalekan Ajadi (Akin Lewis) is a businessman whose obsession with power is matched only by his flair for theatrics. He’s tried to win the presidency more times than anyone can keep track of, yet each loss only fuels his hunger for the top job. Your Excellency follows his chaotic campaign trail, where over-the-top promises, media stunts, and ego-driven decisions collide in a whirlwind of laughs, embarrassment, and sharp political satire. The movie lampoons elections and thrives on the absurdity of political ambition itself.
Watch Your Excellency on Netflix.
7. Before Valentine’s (2022)
Running time: 1h 51m
Director: Michelle Bello
Genre: Romance
Valentine’s Day is coming up, and the love lives of four hairstylists (Uche Montana, Meg Otanwa, Bolaji Ogunmola and Ben Lugo Touitou) are unravelled by relationship problems. Their salon becomes a confessional booth where truths surface and choices are made. Between hair treatments and small talk, hearts are tested.
Watch Before Valentine’s on Netflix.
6. Dinner (2016)
Running time: 1h 50m
Director: Jay Franklin Jituboh
Genre: Thriller
When childhood pals Ade (Enyinna Nwigwe) and Mike (Okey Uzoeshi) sit down for a pre‑wedding dinner with their fiancées (Kehinde Bankole and Keira Hewatch) things take a turn as Richie (Deyemi Okanlawon), the trouble‑attracting wildcard, tags along. A casual dinner turns into emotional landmines where old flings, unspoken truths and messy histories surface between drinks and banter, not just relationships but everyone’s sense of what they thought they knew.
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5. Ile Owo (House of Money) (2022)
Running time: 1h 36m
Director: Dare Olaitan
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Ile Owo promises wealth and glamour, but Busola (Immaculata Oko-Kasum) soon finds out that not all that glitters is safe. When she falls for Tunji (Efa Iwara), a charming man from a wealthy and secretive family, romance turns into something darker. As their relationship deepens, Busola is pulled into a web of family secrets that demand more than just love.
Watch Ile Owo (House of Money) on Netflix.
4. Strained (2023)
Running time: 1h 42m
Director: Okechukwu Oku
Genre: Drama
This family drama begins with the fragile terrain of postpartum life. Ebere (Tracy George) is navigating new motherhood while her husband Ozo (Samuel Nnabuike) is away, and the only lifeline she has is her mother, who disappeared from her childhood. When Abigail (Queen Nwokoye) steps back into her daughter’s life to help with Omugwo, the Igbo tradition of postpartum care, the air between them is thick with old wounds, unspoken resentment, and the anxious hope for something like peace.
Strained sits in a space where forgiveness isn’t immediate and isn’t easy, and asks whether healing means letting go or learning to breathe around the pain.
3. The Rise of Igbinogun (2021)
Running time: 1h 56m
Director: Ideh “Onesoul” Chukwuma Innocent
Genre: Drama
A fierce young warrior named Igbinogun fights against the king’s guards and against the injustice that is deeply rooted in her land. A child born of struggle and a woman driven by hunger, she becomes a shadow among the rich and a legend among the poor, stealing from the powerful to lift the downtrodden.
Along the way, she faces threats from every angle, from the king’s soldiers to her own father’s expectations and the heavy weight of destiny itself.
Watch The Rise of Igbinogun on Netflix.
2. A Sunday Affair (2023)
Running time: 1h 36m
Director: Walter Banger
Genre: Romance
A Sunday Affair begins from a place that feels deceptively simple: two lifelong friends, Toyin (Dakore Akande) and Uche (Nse Ikpe-Etim), navigating adulthood with a shared history and sisterhood. Then Sunday (Oris Erhuero) enters the picture, and what should be a harmless attraction quickly turns into a quiet war of hearts. Now, the loyalty limits of these two women, who thought nothing could come between them, are being tested.
1. The Herd (2025)
Running time: 1h 51m
Director: Daniel Etim Effiong
Genre: Crime, Thriller
The Herd opens with comfort: colour, music, friends dressed to the nines and an exciting wedding. Gosi (Daniel Etim-Effiong), the best man, is driving his friends, the bride and groom (Kunle Remi and Genevova Umeh), on their wedding day. But their celebration is violently interrupted when armed men attack the convoy, kidnap the couple and the guests, and drag them into the forest.
After the kidnappers unexpectedly murder the groom, the situation becomes a fight for survival as the captives are forced to negotiate their lives through ransom calls, shifting power dynamics, and the slow, suffocating fear of the unknown.
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