Niyi Akinmolayan Claps Back At AI Critics, Celebrates 'Colours Of Fire' Success
Renowned Nigerian filmmaker and director Niyi Akinmolayan has responded to widespread criticism of his mythological epic, 'Colours of Fire', which has been accused of relying too heavily on artificial intelligence.
In a video statement via his Instagram page on Monday, the director, while addressing the backlash, defended the creative decisions behind the film, which is now streaming on Netflix across Africa and globally on KAVA from August 7, 2026. The film had its theatrical release in Nigerian cinemas on December 24, 2025.
The film, which earned Uzor Arukwe the Best Lead Actor award at the 12th Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards, had been praised for its ambition but criticized for having too much spectacle. Reviewers and netizens noted that while the film represents a bold step for Nollywood, its use of AI and visual effects occasionally detracted from the story.
Akinmolayan, however, defended the film's place as part of his studio's legacy of innovation.
"Antill Studios is not your everyday kind of studio," he said.
"We will always go boldly where a lot of people are scared to go. We will always do things that push the industry forward."
The filmmaker recounted how 'Colours of Fire' began as a passion project during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, where he created a "codename Red and Blue" concept to blend Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa mythologies. He envisioned it as a trilogy similar to 'Dune' or 'Lord of the Rings' but scaled back the vision after funding for large-scale Nigerian productions dried up.
Tooting his horns, he also cited his studio's track record of grooming talent that has gone on to work with Disney, Warner Bros, and Netflix.
"The moment you begin to push to do things no one wants to do, things begin to happen," he noted.
Akinmolayan emphasized that while the film is a "salad of African cultures," the criticism of the technology does not overshadow the fact that the film has resonated with audiences and academics alike.
He added that Antill Studios is currently developing more projects, including a steampunk story based on ancient Benin, as part of their commitment to Afrofusion cinema.
"If we're not ready for change, the change is never gonna happen," he concluded.
He said:
"Wow, what a weekend. It's amazing. It's, I mean, we've been doing this for a while now, but we've never gotten this amount of response on a release. And this was a release that went to cinema in December last year. First, I want to say thank you. Thank you to everyone who has seen the film on Netflix, on Carver TV. Those of you that are pirating it, your phone's gone. The amount of DMs I've gotten, whether it's people, first of all, everybody wants the part two, you know. I guess we set ourselves up for that, but it's more the, just the comfort in knowing that people really care that we made this film. It's been amazing. I've gotten calls even from much senior colleagues, you know, who are reaching out and are saying, this is a move in the right direction. It only gets better from here. I've seen academics, you know, break down what, you know, the layers and layers, you know, some of the deeper meanings in the film, what it meant to them. I've even seen people send me ideas, you know, for what we should do next with the film. I've seen people tell me how they would even want to be part of the next one if we get to do another one. And that has been very, very encouraging.
I'll tell you an interesting story. So Colors of Fire was an idea that I had during the pandemic, you know, it was 2020. I, you know, I thought, you know, the world was going to shit and we're not going to be making films. So I went back to my first love, which is prose. You know, I really like writing stories, but I wanted to do fantasy. I wanted to do this big open world story that is based on Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa mythology, all fused together. And I started writing something. It was codenamed Red and Blue. Then, you know, and I was just penning all the ideas. I was creating the worlds in my head. I thought about what trade systems could look like, you know, how the interaction with white people would look like, how magic could be infused. I came up with this idea that Adire patterns can be some form of language or some form of codex, you know, and it was, I was really enjoying myself with it. And then, you know, the pandemic disappeared and we all go back to work. So I just put it aside.
But interestingly, around 2023, 2024, when, you know, we were, you know, with the streamers like Amazon and Netflix, I designed it as an original. I started thinking, what if I make this an original? Now that it looks like there's interest in Nigerian content like that, what if I make it an original? In fact, the plan was that I was going to, I was going to raise $5 million and I was going to shoot three movies because it was a trilogy in my head. I wanted to make my own Dune, my own Lord of the Rings, my own Avatar, whatever. And I started developing and developing and developing in a way that I could raise money to make this huge trilogy and then start releasing them in bits. But as you know, the big streamers, they pulled off, you know, funding just went to zero for Nigerian production. And I started thinking, what if I make an abridged version of this film? It's an idea that I've really played with for a long time. There are amazing actors out there, you know, maybe I can push everyone, the actors, the costume people, the production design, like, you know, let's just, you know, see how this happens. And that's how we made Colors of Fire.
And when we made the film, we did have honest conversations with ourselves as to what exactly this film is and what it's supposed to do. And this brings me back to something I realize a lot of people don't understand and I need you to pay attention. Antill Studios is not your everyday kind of studio. We will always go boldly where a lot of people are scared to go. We will always do things that push the industry forward. In fact, I will say confidently that since 2010, there hasn't been a major wave in Nollywood that hasn't had some involvement with Antill Studios, whether it's films I've directed, whether it's films that I have produced, or, you know, executive produced, or films that Antill has been part of the post-production. I mean, look at all these films that are showing up there. We're not ordinary people, you know, and we don't do ordinary things. If you're looking for the regular mundane stuff, it's not Antill.
What has happened is the moment you begin to push to do things no one wants to do, things begin to happen. I'll give you an instance. From 2014 down to now, half, and I mean this, the entire half of all the VFX and animation talent that we've groomed, we've trained, we've built at Antill, they're all working internationally. They're working with Disney, they're working with Warner Brothers, they're working with Nickelodeon, they're working with Netflix. A lot of them are out of the country. Do you know what their first work was? These films that we made at Antill. These films that we, with our limited budget and our limited understanding, the fact that we were willing to try something no one has ever done before, those were the things that gave them the opportunity. When some of them came to Antill, they couldn't even use the computer and it transformed their life.
I'll give you a second example. Our biggest loss as, you know, a studio was a film we made called Mikolo. Mikolo was a film I've always dreamt about. It's about two kids who discover this magical creature and they need to send it back home. We spent about 130million on that film. It made maybe 20million in cinema. So it practically meant, you know, I as a producer got zero. Look at what that film has done to the two leads. Look at Fiu, he's one of the biggest, you know, young actors out there. Look at Pamilerin. Pamilerin is in Children of Blood and Bone. Do you know their first feature films? Mikolo, that's where they got the opportunity to expand their skill at that level. And look at the projects they're working on. So when you take bold steps like this, things happen for everyone. Look at the people that have worked with us on these projects, our cinematographers, our sound people, our music people. They are the top of the top, the top 1% of the top 1% in Hollywood and these are Nigerians.
If you're a young filmmaker or you're somebody looking to get into Nollywood, I need to let you in on a secret. There are only two ways to get into Nollywood and be successful. The first is that you have a lot of money, bastard money. If you wave enough money, a lot of people will dance, you know, and you can get there quickly. Now we know that that's not what's gonna happen to a lot of people. The second one is to be bold and fearless. You have to stand out. You have to keep thinking about stuff that you're going to do that you will stand out. You can't be doing the same thing everyone is doing. Do you know why? Because the establishment, the people that are established, they need things to remain that same way. And if you do the same thing that they do, you can't even compete. You can't get their attention. So it doesn't matter whether you're doing it for cinema, whether you're doing it for YouTube, you need to stand out. That is how things get done.
When you look at a film like Colors of Fire, a lot of heart was poured into that film, but it was also done by Nigerians, people like you. When you look at some of the scenes like in the palace and all of that, some of the scenes people have called AI, a lot of it were done with real people and with visual effects that is based off what we shot there. A lot of the work is in removing lights, removing boom mic, you know, expanding the space. Look at the young people that were doing it. These are the things that excites me as a filmmaker.
Go ahead and be part of things that push an industry forward. And it's a general discussion, even for Nigeria. If we're not ready for change, the change is never gonna happen. No one is going to hand over anything for us just because we think we deserve it. We will need to do bigger, bolder stuff. And I like that people have compared it only with the big stuff. People, when they make the examples, even those that don't like the film, they say, can't you look at Black Panther? Can't you look at Avengers? Can't you look at, you know, Game of Thrones? They are mentioning stuff that are made with hundreds of millions of dollars of budget, but, you know, it's great. We feel good about it, but please, as long as you're following Antil, you have to understand that we're only doing the great stuff.
As I'm talking to you, we're developing more mythical projects. We have a steampunk project based on ancient Benin city. We have Igbo Rumole-type stories. You know, it's crazy. You know, I don't even know if we get to do everything, but that's what the studio is. So if you're a lover of Antill, then you know that you're part of something that is constantly going to transform the industry. And look at what we've done, even with theater. You know, we've taken regular theater, and with Imersia, we've made it bigger. I want to encourage everyone to continue with us, continue to support what we do, and we will keep pushing. Don't forget, Imersia, we're having something really special in October. It's called Imersia Engage. That's us quick advertising. Go to imersia.show and, you know, buy tickets as cheap as 10,000 naira. You're going to see more information very soon. So thank you very much, everyone that has been part of this. And now, for the AI that everybody has been talking about, I just want..."