How is Shark Minh Beta's cinema chain doing?

(Dan Tri) - Beta Media is the career of 9X businessman Bui Quang Minh - often called Shark Minh Beta since participating in the program Shark Tank Vietnam.

Shark Minh Beta's Beta cinema chain has just introduced the first cinema franchise model in Vietnam, in the context of the booming entertainment industry.

The first franchise model in the cinema industry

Talking about this first franchise model, Mr. Duong Hoang Phuong - Director of Beta Group franchise - said that the Beta franchise model was formed from 2019 to present. Beta commits to a payback period of 3 to 5 years, while supporting partners in communication, raw materials, film catalog, business consulting, operations management...

According to him, the biggest difficulty lies in the trust of investors in the operating Beta teams. This is not only a personal problem but also a common problem of franchise models, investors and franchise partners when both sides do not trust each other 100%.

“Saying 100% is a bit too much, but the higher the trust rate, the lower the risk rate. My partners and I have also done a lot of research and concluded that transparency and clarity are needed. Transparency here is not just the numbers on financial reports and then investors close and pay. Transparency here is proving to partners that the indicators are real indicators, the reports are audited and submitted to state agencies,” said Mr. Duong Hoang Phuong.

On the partner side, Mr. Le Tran Minh Huy - Director of Uyen Hung Media (investor of Beta Tan Uyen) - shared that initially when Beta gave the report, financial commitment, revenue, he was still hesitant whether it could come true or not. When combining up to now, he has proven it and is here to share.

The cinema complex he signed a franchise model for has been in operation for more than 3 years and has recovered more than 80% of its capital and is preparing to sign a new cinema complex in Thu Dau Mot.

"The franchise model also has certain initial conflicts in controlling and operating the brand. We are not familiar with that field, so we franchise and everything from branding, market research, decoration, human resource training... Beta takes care of everything, investors only put in money. However, during operation, there will be certain conflicts, if the conflicts are harmonized so that both sides can sit down and work together, it will be fine", Mr. Le Tran Minh Huy informed.

Mr. Truong Xuan Bach - Project Development Director of Beta Group shares about franchising in the entertainment - cinema sector (Photo: Beta Group).

Vietnam's film industry is accelerating

According to Box Office Vietnam statistics, in 2024, Vietnam's total box office revenue will reach a record 4,418 billion VND, surpassing the pre-pandemic level in 2019 (more than 4,100 billion VND). The total revenue of the Vietnamese cinema market is forecast to grow by 10% in the next 8 years, according to a survey by a group of Harvard Business School graduate students.

Vietnam is seeing more and more movies with revenue of hundreds of billions, thousands of billions… Directors are also gradually conveying many messages and cultural values ​​through movies and are being well received by audiences. “These are signs that the Vietnamese film market is accelerating,” shared a representative of Beta Group at an event held in Ho Chi Minh City recently.

In the context of the accelerating industry, Beta chose the franchising direction to expand and compete with a series of foreign "players" such as Lotte Cinema and CGV.

Beta is known to be the career of 9X businessman Bui Quang Minh (often called Shark Minh Beta since participating in the program Shark Tank Vietnam). Founded in 2014, Beta Media is a company belonging to the Beta Group ecosystem, specializing in developing and operating a chain of cinemas targeting the mid-range segment in Vietnam.

Currently, Beta Media is developing 21 Beta Cinemas theaters nationwide. Besides the new brand Aeon Beta Cinema, Beta Cinemas is still being promoted by Beta Media to serve its preferred customer group.

"Shaking hands" with the giant Aeon

Last year, Beta Media and Aeon Entertainment also attracted attention when they established a joint venture, planning to invest up to VND5,000 billion in 50 cinema complexes by 2035. The joint venture announced plans to promote the development and operation of 50 high-end cinema complexes under the Aeon Beta Cinema brand.

During the announcement ceremony, Mr. Bui Quang Minh (Shark Minh) - Chairman of Beta Group - shared that currently, a modern, high-end cinema complex requires an investment capital of about 100 billion VND. Therefore, if investing in 50 cinema complexes, the capital will be about 5,000 billion VND or a little bit different. However, the joint venture does not only invest in cinemas, but also produces and distributes, so it is not limited to the above figure.

Mr. Minh said, if you look at the number of cinemas per 1 million people in Vietnam, there are only about 11 screens per 1 million people, while in the United States there are much more, 10 times more. So the market potential is huge. An interesting fact about the Vietnamese market is that a lot of the audience are young people. So his company benefits from that.

"Established in 2014, Beta Group has grown very quickly. After Covid-19, we have tripled our revenue and are serving about 6 million moviegoers each year. I am also proud to say that we are probably the fastest growing film company in the world ," said Shark Minh.

Vietnam is one of the fastest growing markets in the world, he added, and international brands have noticed that.

Shark Minh was also the producer of many movies, including "Tomorrow Mai's Wedding" (2017), "Finding a Wife for Grandma" (2018), "The Husband-Swapping Plan" (2018) and "The Book of Beauty" (2019). In addition, he also has ambitions to become a director.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/chuoi-rap-chieu-phim-cua-shark-minh-beta-dang-kinh-doanh-ra-sao-20251018103625586.htm