Africa’s film industry is ripe to boom. Idris Elba wants to be there for it.

• Idris Elba has shared more on his plans to help build the entertainment industry in Africa.
• The Golden Globe winner has said he planned to build film studios in Ghana and Tanzania.
• A 2021 UNESCO report said that the film industry could help add $20 billion to Africa’s combined GDP.

Idris Elba has set his sights on relocating to Africa, he said in an interview published this week.

Speaking to the BBC in Accra, Ghana, the 52-year-old actor, known for his roles in hit shows such as “The Wire” and “Luther,” said he was committed to promoting the continent’s blossoming film industry.

“I think [I’ll move] in the next five, 10 years,” he said. “I’m here to bolster the film industry — that is a 10-year process. I won’t be able to do that from overseas. I need to be in-country, on the continent.”

“I would certainly consider settling down here; not even consider, it’s going to happen,” he continued, adding: “I’m going to live in Accra, I’m going to live in Freetown, I’m going to live in Zanzibar. I’m going to try and go where they’re telling stories.”

Elba, who was born in London to a Sierra Leonean father and a Ghanaian mother, previously announced plans to build a film studio in Tanzania — and he has been granted land on the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar to do so, the BBC reported in August.

He also reportedly spoke last year about plans to build another studio in Ghana.

“Currently, we call it West African Studios, but that’s a working title. We’ve been working on this for three or four years to raise a plan that puts a facility at the center of African filmmaking,” he said.

Africa’s film industry is growing rapidly, and certain major streaming successes, such as Netflix’s Nigerian crime thriller “The Black Book,” offer increasing optimism for the sector.

With the digital revolution enabling creators to directly distribute work and increasing access to more affordable filming equipment, more and more people across Africa are becoming interested in the industry, with new generations of filmmakers “now able to live from the online revenue generated by their work,” according to a 2021 UNESCO report.

And that interest seems to be filtering through to audiences. A Digital TV Research report from 2023 said that Africa was expected to reach 18 million Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) subscriptions by 2029, up from 8 million at the end of last year.

The sector could also be key for creating jobs and boosting local economies, according to the UNESCO report.

The report said that Africa’s film and audiovisual industries had the potential to create more than 20 million jobs and add $20 billion to the continent’s combined GDP.

But the industry has also been hampered by issues such as piracy, limits on freedom of expression, and a lack of theaters. In 2021, there was one cinema screen per 787,402 people in Africa, according to the UNESCO report.

“The film and audiovisual sector in Africa remains historically and structurally underfunded, underdeveloped and undervalued,” the report said.

Elba, however, believes that’s about to change for the entire entertainment industry in Africa.

“It will grow, and it can grow,” he told CNN earlier this month.