Nigerian filmmaker and businessman Sam Zewas and his co-founder Xoliswa Magidigidi have announced the launch of Murflicks, a new subscription streaming service.
Murflicks, according to the “Adichie” producer, will be the first black-owned global video streaming company that will focus on providing genuine local content to its users in Africa first and then to the rest of the world.
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“We’re living in a technology age where the traditional TVs are fast going into extinction globally and the use of smart devices to stream movies and shows have become the new order. So, it makes common sense that we do what we are doing now, which is creating Murflicks, a platform that will compliment numerous efforts by Africans to keep producing local content across the continent,” Sam told Ravzgadget in an email interview.
Murflicks intends to offer more local content across Africa, beginning with South Africa and next to Nigeria, Sam’s home country and the continent’s largest economy with a population of more than 200 million, before expanding to India, the United States, and Europe.
Murflicks which is expected to launch in Johannesburg, South Africa in August, 2022 with co-founder Xoliswa Magidigidi who holds the majority shares as the acting CEO, is joining the streaming industry with the goal of bridging the gap between local subscribers and foreign services like Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Showmax, which is offering absolute local content that viewers can relate to.
Murflicks, according to co-founder Xoli, will provide a new opportunity for local content producers in South Africa and across the continent. “Murflicks will encourage our local producers to go all out and create local content that can compete globally, knowing that there is a platform that is willing to collect the end product at a fair deal.”
Xoli previously stated that many local producers are discouraged from producing local content due to the stringent terms of signing contracts with foreign streaming service providers such as Netflix, Disney+, Showmax, including DSTV.
Speaking on what genre of content Murflicks is aiming to offer, Xoli said, “What I can tell you is that there will be all the same content as on other streaming platforms, such as action films, drama, kids shows, reality shows, and documentaries, but the ‘Murflicks originals’ will be primarily local African stories and Epic. African epic films have vanished, but we will bring them back with a bang. No streaming platform shows that today, everywhere there is gun shooting and drug smuggling films…we will change that for our people,” the SurgeZirc Media CEO added.
Murflicks is funded by Xoli and her partner Sam.
According to Xoli who is currently the CEO of SurgeZirc Media, a multimedia company with editions in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, India, Nigeria, and South Africa, private investors are welcome for a discussion on how to collaborate, but the startup will not wait for such collaboration before launching operations in August.
“We would appreciate private investors coming in to help us run smoothly and implement our master plan, allowing us to make huge impact and grow quickly. May I also add that investor’s support will see us through producing Murflicks Originals, and license some titles from other corporation and studios and then, tackle other logistic issues,” Xoli noted.
Get in touch with the Murflicks team via email info@murflicks.com and WhatsApp +27784532925.
