The movie narrates the story of two friends who find a mystical sculpture in an abandoned shrine in the forest while serving at a National Youth Service Corps camp, and one of them decides to take the artwork home.

The film was shot in Lagos and Osun States for three months and received sponsorship from companies such as MicCom Golf Resort, GSK, Omatek Computers, MTN, IRS Airlines, and Cinekraft.

[12] On 31 July 2014, A book titled Auteuring Nollywood: Critical Perspectives on The Figurine, detailing scholarly analysis of events in the film was released.

[15][16] In the year 1908: There is an old folktale about a goddess Araromire who asked a priest to invoke her spirit into a figurine carved out of the bark of a cursed tree.

However, Sola fails to listen to rest of the tale (the disaster which follows the seven years) as he politely leaves the dean's office with disinterest.

Mona gets to know about the Araromire legend and she is worried; she begins to make conclusions and starts doubting the real source of the sudden wealth of the family.

Junior, Sola's first son, also dies by falling off from the building while trying to reach out to his mother — his father was having a big argument with his mum and the figurine was burnt.

On his way back, he has his asthma attack and commands Lara to bring him his inhaler, but she refuses; instead, she calls the 'Rapid Response Squad' to report her brother's killings.

[21][22] Care had to be taken when writing the script so as not insult people's beliefs; according to the Art Director, Pat Nebo, "living in Nigeria is a war between our culture and our love for independence in different ways".

[21] Meanwhile, the movie got sponsorship from a number of brands and corporate organizations which include MicCom Golf Resort, GSK, Omatek Computers and so on.

For the two Shrine scenes where Rain was needed, the crew were in a Village in Osun state so they had to contact the fire fighters from the city to help out.

There was a lot of makeup and special effects used on Ombo (the Priest); He is not very old, so apart from body paintings, skin bags had to be applied on his face, long grey hairs had to be attached to his eyebrows to make him look weird and fake contacts were added to his eyes as well.

As a result of the heavy lights they were using; One of the generators developed faults and everything that was brought blew up: the battery, the charger got burnt and the Shoot had to be cancelled for days again.

[30] According to Kunle Afolayan, it was important to reach out to the audience and one good way was through social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

It was praised for its top-notch cinematography, props, and for being the movie to finally break the jinx of mediocrity in Nollywood and for leading the revolutionary birth of what has been termed New-Nollywood.

[40] Sakari Maatta of Elitisti, a Finnish movie online magazine gave a rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars and concluded: "The Figurine reflects the number of everyday topics such as friendship, love and loyalty, role of the family and, ultimately; betrayal and death.

Kemi Adesoye the scriptwriter manages to offer in the last minutes, the best possible to pull off a surprise turn of events, which evokes thoughts".

The musical score is well produced, the lighting does justice to many of Lola Maja-Okojevoh’s artistic creations, the special effects add to the magical feel and all in all, it is a great achievement not just for Nollywood but for the African cinematic industry as a whole.

For raising the cinematographic bar to record heights and putting our culture in the limelight, The Figurine is one ‘reference’ movie that will be spoken about years to come".

[42] Femi Owolabi gave it 3 out of 4 stars and states: "The film’s cultural relevance is so profound and its status in the social sphere is remarkable.

[8] Ayo Stephens commented that "the major themes of fate and faith touched in this movie are very weighty ones and the writer does a very good job in leaving the audience to choose their sides.

The characters spoke Yoruba to themselves in private and reverted to the English language for more formal conversations as regular people would in real life.

Due to the presence of few cinemas in the country as of 2009, the film's total gross was approximated at around 30 million Naira,[5] after eight weeks of theatrical run.

[8][52] Sakari Maatta comments that the film reflects the number of everyday topics such as friendship, love and loyalty, role of the family and, ultimately, betrayal and death.

[41] The lingering rhetoric question on the conclusion of the film remains: "is The Figurine a story of a love triangle, friendship, loyalty, betrayal?

[8] Itua Otaigbe Ewoigbokhan of Africa Magic describes the tale of Araromire as a modified version of Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dream about Egypt from the Bible.

[40] In the present day of The Figurine world, Mona is still disturbed after getting to know about the folktale of the statue her husband has placed in their home;[43] Sakari Maatta interprets this to mean that even though such old myths and beliefs have not been given too much weight in the film's society, they still live in the subconscious of the people.

Using the phrase "who the gods want to destroy they first make mad", Itua Otaigbe Ewoigbokhan explained that Femi may have been possessed by the goddess to get so irrationally in love with Mona, leading to rage which results in the doom of him and the other parties.

He concludes his analysis by stating: "With deliberate or inadvertent camera movements, the film compels the belief that Araromire the goddess is not only powerful, but also present in the lives of those who touch her.

[16][61] Contributors to the 455-page book include; Sola Osofisan, Dele Layiwola, Chukwuma Okoye, Jane Thorburn, Matthew H. Brown, Gideon Tanimonure, A.G.A Bello, Foluke Ogunleye and Hyginus Ekwuazi.