Despite strong growth and consistently breaking revenue and film release records, the Vietnamese film market in recent years has shown a clear differentiation between film seasons. With consistently high occupancy rates, even for films that aren't particularly outstanding in terms of quality, major holidays like Lunar New Year, April 30th, or September 2nd are typically the times when Vietnamese films are most active, attracting mostly large-scale, high-potential projects.
Four films will be competing for release during the 2026 Lunar New Year holiday. This is similar to the same period in 2024 and 2025. Meanwhile, on April 30th and September 2nd, there are usually two to three Vietnamese films competing at the same time. Notably, this year's April 30th holiday saw five films released, creating an unprecedentedly fierce competition.
Conversely, the sluggish market is often seen in the summer, when projects are scarce and sporadic. Furthermore, a relatively large number of films end up losing money, causing many producers to become cautious. However, this situation has improved significantly in 2026 and to some extent from 2025 onwards.
The "low point" of Vietnamese cinema.
In fact, even before Covid-19, box office figures had already somewhat proven that summer is often considered a "low season" for Vietnamese films. Between May and August 2020, only 5 films were released in Vietnamese cinemas, averaging less than 2 films per month. Notably, all 5 projects suffered losses, including *Legend of the Fairy Inn * (867 million VND), * I Am a Goldfish Brain* ( 1.6 billion VND ), * Peak of Mist* (894 million VND), and slightly better off, * Invisible Evidence * ( 7.5 billion VND ).
After Covid-19 (2022), Vietnamese cinema showed signs of more activity with 9 projects released in theaters during the three summer months, averaging about 3 films per month. However, box office results remained unfavorable. Except for "Dan Choi Khong So Con Ao" (The Playboy Doesn't Fear His Abandoned Child), which managed to break even ( 45 billion VND ), and "Em and Trinh," which, despite reaching 100 billion VND, only achieved a slight profit due to its enormous production costs; the remaining 7 projects all suffered losses, demonstrating that summer remains a risky period for Vietnamese films.
    |
Most projects launched during the summer end up losing money. |
Because of the large number of releases but almost zero profit margin, in the following two years, the number of projects released during this period could be counted on one hand, with some months having almost no Vietnamese films. Notably, the rate of losses continued to be almost absolute, making many producers more cautious when choosing release dates during this period.
Notable examples include Fanti ( 1.8 billion VND ), Inside the Golden Cocoon ( 1.4 billion VND ), Murder on the 4th Floor ( 2 billion VND ), Claws ( 3.8 billion VND ), and The Most Beautiful Summer ( 4 billion VND ). As for The Anonymous , despite raking in over 42 billion VND , it's still likely to suffer losses as a high-budget action film.
Speaking to Tri Thức - Znews , producer Nguyen Cao Tung said that for many years, summer has been considered the "home turf" of Hollywood films. This is the time when international film studios release their biggest blockbusters of the year with huge marketing budgets, strong brand effects, and the ability to capture a large portion of screening slots.
The producer analyzed: "When faced with such direct competition, many Vietnamese producers often choose to avoid it or postpone release dates to periods considered safer, such as holidays, Tet (Lunar New Year), or the end of the year. Summer is also a season of changing weather – and the early summer period is when families focus on traveling and vacationing rather than watching movies. Especially in even-numbered years (2024, 2026...) when there is a major global football event like the Euro or World Cup."
According to him, another reason is the investment mindset. Vietnamese cinema has experienced many failures during the summer season, creating a rather negative cycle: due to fear of risk, fewer people release films, and the fewer films there are, the harder it is to create a habit of going to the cinema for audiences during this period.
'Vietnamese films are gradually moving away from seasonal screenings'
However, in the last two years (2025-2026), with increasing investment in film, the summer box office situation has improved significantly. There has been a greater number of films released, while the rate of losses has also shown signs of decreasing.
In 2025, nine films were released in theaters during the summer, more than the previous two years combined. The majority were small-scale productions that didn't require exceptionally high revenue to recoup their investment. Films like "The Cricket: An Adventure to the Muddy Village" ( 21 billion VND ), "Finding the Corpse: The Headless Ghost " ( 49 billion VND ), and the short film "Wooden Fish School" ( 4.4 billion VND ) are considered examples of films that achieved slight profits or broke even.
 |
Ut Lan: The vengeful spirit guarding the coffers of over 90 billion VND becomes a rare project that achieved huge success this summer. |
Most notably, the success of "Ut Lan: The Vengeful Spirit Keeps Its Treasure ," which grossed 90 billion VND , made it one of the few projects in recent years to release during the summer and still record a large profit. In fact, a number of films suffered heavy losses during this period (e.g., "Five Ten," "What Are You Waiting For? "), but the rate of losses has decreased significantly. In addition, many projects, although not successful, no longer suffered heavy losses like in previous years, such as "The Bottom of the Lake" ( 27 billion VND ) or "The Last Wish" ( 33 billion VND ).
For 2026, the box office situation is also developing quite positively, even showing some improvement compared to the same period the previous year. After three consecutive projects that suffered losses, which is unavoidable during off-peak seasons, "Ma Xó" created a sensation, raking in hundreds of billions of VND just days after its release. Notably, the film's popularity has not cooled down, indicating its potential to reach even higher revenue milestones.
Besides that, The Fire Tower also had a promising start, raking in 29 billion VND after one week in theaters. As a low-budget horror project, the film is predicted to have surpassed its break-even point and start making a profit. In addition, there are still many noteworthy projects awaiting release during the remainder of the summer, including The Beautiful Mess and The Soul-Capturing Demon .
According to Nguyen Cao Tung, the landscape of Vietnamese films this summer is gradually changing because producers understand the audience better, and most importantly, public trust in Vietnamese films has increased significantly. Audiences today no longer automatically assume Hollywood films are the preferred choice.
"The success of shows like 'The Ghost' demonstrates that the issue isn't about the season, but whether the show is compelling enough. That's a positive sign for the entire market," he commented.
 |
The summer season for Vietnamese films is gradually becoming less bleak. |
Regarding the notion that summer is often considered the "low season" for Vietnamese films, Mr. Tung believes this concept is gradually disappearing. "When the market was small, the number of films was limited, and audiences weren't accustomed to watching Vietnamese films year-round, the division into peak and off-peak seasons was understandable. But as the market grows, capital increases, and the number of projects rises, producers can no longer compete for just a few fixed holiday periods," the producer of "The Ghost Lamp " analyzed.
According to him, in the future, the question will no longer be "which season to screen it in" but "whether the film is competitive enough."
“I think in the next few years, we will see Vietnamese films appearing more regularly throughout the year. That is a sign of a mature market. The worrying thing is not whether summer will still be a low point, but that the growth rate of the number of films is outpacing the improvement in quality,” Nguyen Cao Tung concluded.
Source: https://znews.vn/chuyen-gi-dang-xay-ra-o-rap-viet-post1659904.html
