Let’s be honest, some nollywood films just wasted a good idea. We’ve all seen them. You sit down, popcorn ready, the concept sounds like a banger… and then nothing happens. Or worse, the film tries to do too much, or not enough. It’s like someone started cooking hot steamy jollof and forgot to add salt. Painful. We’re not talking about bad films. No, this is about almost films. The ones that had potential. The ones that made you say, “If only they had just…”

So, we’re making a case: for remakes! Not the classics or oldies, but the ones that could rise again if given the right treatment. Here are five Nigerian films — or film categories — with brilliant concepts that we think deserve a proper remake.

Water & Garri

This film had all the ingredients for a stunning crossover between music and cinema. Sharing its name with Tiwa Savage’s Water & Garri EP (a soulful blend of love, loss, and resilience) it promised a narrative as rich as the album. But the final dish? Undercooked. We got a film that doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. It wasn’t clear if the music inspired the story or the other way round. Instead of embracing the album’s emotional arc and building the film around that, it floated from scene to scene with beautiful shots and little substance.

It might not be a “Water and Garri Remake”, but it sure would be nice to see another film ride on this concept. Build a tight narrative where each song drives the plot, like a character’s heartbreak or triumph unfolding through lyrics.

Owambe Thieves

The idea of robbing Lagos owambes is rich with cultural tension, satire, and spectacle. But Owambe Thieves tried to be a heist film, a slapstick comedy, and a social commentary all at once, and didn’t quite nail any of them.

The characters, while charming at first, never evolved. The motivations were sketchy. The heist scenes lacked tension. One minute it felt like a parody, the next it wanted us to take it seriously. The editing jumped awkwardly, the stakes were inconsistent, and crucial story beats were either rushed or ignored.

But imagine a remake with the tone of Ocean’s Eleven but the chaos of a Yoruba party. Each crew member could have their own owambe role—caterer, DJ, MC, even the bouncer—all part of the con. Lean into the satire, but keep the plotting tight. That’s the version we want to see.

Bendel Girl

Bendel Girl tilts toward a psychological thriller with a time-travel premise that’s a breath of fresh air in Nollywood. Directed by Gbenga Kayode, it follows Theresa, a teenage girl who vanishes into a forest in 1985 Benin (the old Bendel State) and mysteriously reappears on a Nigerian highway in 2024 nearly 40 years later, unchanged. It’s got that eerie, mind-bending vibe of unexplained disappearances, family reunions gone wrong, and the mental toll of lost time, setting it apart from Niyi Akinmolayan’s more family-focused time-travel romp in Day of Destiny, where brothers jump back 20 years to fix fortunes.

The premise—lost time, fractured psyche, unexplained return—is gripping. The early mystery hooks, but uneven pacing and loose plot threads dilute the impact. Time-travel rules feel inconsistent, and the psychological depth stays shallow. A remake could tighten the narrative, grounding the time jump in clear mechanics, perhaps tied to Benin folklore. Lean into Theresa’s mental unraveling for a slow-burn thriller that balances emotion and suspense.

Ile Owo

This film deserves props for even trying to bring horror back into Nollywood at a time when romantic comedies and drama were everywhere. The idea: a young woman falls for a charming man whose family is part of a cult, and her own father may be involved. That’s horror gold—family secrets, supernatural deals, betrayal wrapped in blood.

But Ile Owo played it too safe. The story held back on horror and leaned more into drama. The occult elements were underexplored. The scares were softened by weak visual effects, and the ending left more confusion than resolution. The tension simmered but never boiled. There was so much room for bold, gothic horror—rituals, ancestral spirits, moral corruption—but the film seemed afraid to go full dark.

A stronger version would double down on the genre: make it uncomfortable, make it haunting, and give us a clear, terrifying mythology. Horror thrives on specificity this story has it, it just needs to stop playing nice.

Time-Loop/ Films (The Beads, Landline, )

Nollywood has flirted with time-loop concepts in films like The Beads (2024), where a bride relives her wedding-day murder on repeat; Landline (2025), a sergeant trapped in eerie phone calls to save his wife.The unifying thread? These high-concept plots falter under rushed execution, inconsistent loop logic (characters randomly recall details), and endings that promise big but fizzle out.

But the core idea of reliving moments to break a cycle is ripe for satire on Nigerian life: think looping through endless ASUU strikes or election-day chaos. A remake could fix this by proposing a tight, character-driven loop, imagine a Ekiti hustler reliving a botched scam. Keep pacing snappy with escalating stakes per cycle, iron out logic holes for believability, and land a satisfying resolution that ties emotional arcs to the mechanics. No more dangling threads; give us a loop that evolves.

So… What Film Would You Remake?

We’ve dropped our list. Now it’s your turn. Which Nollywood film had a brilliant idea but missed the mark? Which one left you thinking, “This could have been iconic”? What’s your blueprint for a better version?

Tell us your picks.