Vietnamese cinema sets record of over 1,000 billion VND

Vietnamese cinema revenue reached the trillion VND mark for the first time in the first half of the year thanks to two blockbuster films - "Nha Ba Nu" and "Lat Mat 6".

According to a representative of Box Office Vietnam - an independent box office control unit, in the first six months of the year, the revenue of Vietnamese films is currently 1,080 billion VND (nearly three times higher than the same period in 2022, which was 412 billion). For the first time in the history of the box office, Vietnamese cinema has surpassed the trillion-dollar mark. Although only eight domestic works were released in theaters (20 films less than the same period in 2022), Vietnamese films accounted for more than 50% of the total revenue of the market (1,962 billion VND).

Mr. Nguyen Khanh Duong - founder of Box Office - said that since the beginning of the year, Vietnamese films have won big because domestic audiences are less interested in foreign films. Last year, the Marvel blockbuster - Doctor Strange 2 , released in May 2022 - earned 198 billion VND, far surpassing domestic films such as Sweet Trap (83 billion), Super Easy Job (68 billion), Hundred Billion Key (65 billion). This year, no international film has reached the hundred billion mark. Fast X - a famous action brand - only earned 87 billion VND, ranking fifth in the top highest-grossing films in the domestic market.

The Vietnamese box office has been bustling recently thanks mainly to two films : Nha Ba Nu (directed by Tran Thanh) and Lat Mat 6 (Ly Hai). Released in January, Nha Ba Nu earned VND458 billion after one month in theaters with more than 5 million viewers, becoming the highest-grossing Vietnamese film ever. Many filmmakers believe that Tran Thanh's victory is an optimistic signal for Vietnamese cinema. Director Charlie Nguyen said that the Nha Ba Nu effect shows that the psychological-family film genre is still one of the top-grossing genres in Vietnam.

In April, Lat Mat 6 also surpassed the 250 billion VND mark after three weeks of screening, becoming the third highest-grossing Vietnamese film of all time. Ly Hai's work caused a fever at the box office thanks to its dramatic content, investment context and methodical media campaign. On the TikTok platform, the hashtag of the film's name reached 1.3 billion hits. The popularity of the work caused the Marvel film screened at the same time - Guardians of the Galaxy 3 - to be overshadowed, with revenue not as expected (53 billion VND).

In the last six months of the year, Vietnamese films were overshadowed by international projects . This summer (June to September), Vietnamese cinemas had no screening schedules for domestic works. Many foreign films took the lead, such as Spider-Man: Spider-Verse, Transformers: Rise of the Beast, Flash, Elementalist, Indiana Jones & the Return of the Condor Heroes, Mission: Impossible - Karma - Part 1, Barbie .

According to director Nguyen Huu Tuan, the lack of Vietnamese films in the coming time is mainly due to the fact that last year there were few projects in the cinema sector, and investors were not interested in investing in cinemas. Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Nguyen Khanh Duong said that the films with high revenue are currently coming from large studios, supported by reputable distributors. "Entering the film market is now more difficult, the possibility of failure is higher, so many producers are not confident in releasing products like before," Mr. Duong commented.

Filmmakers are expecting Dat rung phuong nam - the only Vietnamese work scheduled for release at the end of the year (October 20). Director Quang Dung's project, with an investment of 40 billion VND, recreates the journey of An - a motherless boy, searching for his father, growing up amid the anti-French struggle of the Southern people. The film crew started filming in many locations in the West since the end of last year, such as An Giang, Can Tho, Dong Thap, Soc Trang, Tra Vinh. More than 300 extras participated in the big scene in Tra Su cajuput forest. The design team spent more than a month to recreate the floating market, arranging hundreds of furniture and accessories.

Vnexpress.net