Last December, the US-based 3388 Films released The Last Wife by director Victor Vu (with domestic revenue of over 100 billion VND) in the US and Canada. Writer Joshua Polanski wrote on Rotten Tomatoes: " The Last Wife is a special film with a level of drama not often seen in historical romances. The film has mass appeal with a happy ending". This is also the first Vietnamese film to be shown in multiplex theaters in the Czech Republic under the name Poslední manželka .
Previously, Vietnamese films appeared abroad mainly at international film festivals, with the main purpose of cultural exchange or competition. In recent years, many distributors have released high-grossing domestic films for sale in many countries around the world . Southern Forest Land (grossing 140 billion VND domestically) will be shown in the US and Australia in November 2023. Lat Mat 6 (domestic revenue of VND 272 billion) will be released in May 2023 in 50 cities in 19 states in the US. Mrs. Nu's House (domestic revenue of VND 475 billion) will be released in the US, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand in March 2023...
Kaity Nguyen and Thuan Nguyen in the movie The Last Wife
In 2021, the two most popular "hundred billion" movies at the Vietnamese box office, Bo Gia (total revenue of 430 billion VND) and Lat Mat: 48h (150 billion VND), entered the US cinema market. Bo Gia became the first Vietnamese movie to surpass the 1 million USD mark in the US and was widely shown in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. Previously, the movies Hai Phuong and Thien Than Ho Menh also recorded positive results when shown in foreign markets.
Ms. Hang Trinh, representative of Skyline Media, a film distribution unit operating in Vietnam, said that to release the film internationally, the company looks for markets where people have a need to watch Vietnamese films or targets areas with large Vietnamese communities in Europe and North America. Skyline Media is the unit that distributed the film Soul Eater (currently earning 65 billion VND at the domestic box office) to many international markets, including Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries. This unit also cooperated with The World Pictures to release the Vietnamese horror film Ghost Story Near Home to 9 countries including: Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Touching the audience's heart - the deciding factor
Ms. Tran Viet Hoa, Head of Distribution at Galaxy Studio, said: "Galaxy Studio has been and is having many plans to release Vietnamese films in the international market with some typical films such as: Da co hoai lang, Mat biec, Con Nhót mot chong ... Currently, many other producers and distributors are also trying step by step to introduce Vietnamese films to not only Vietnamese audiences living in your country but also foreign audiences". She believes that Vietnamese films abroad face many difficulties, because besides the different factors of culture and taste, they always have to face countries with large and developed film industries such as the US, Korea, Japan ... However, Vietnamese films have been and are being welcomed by audiences in many countries, because they tell separate stories, with distinct cultural nuances.
Scene from the movie Soul Eater
In November 2023, 3388 Films released the film Live - Directed by Khuong Ngoc in 20 states in the US. Mr. Thien A. Pham, Director of 3388 Films, commented: "In general, foreign press has begun to pay more attention to the potential and development of Vietnamese cinema. Although Live - Directed was not highly appreciated when shown domestically, it was chosen as one of the top 5 films in the list of 30 best Southeast Asian films of 2023 voted by Asian Movie Pulse - the leading English-language online platform for Asian cinema".
According to Mr. Thien A. Pham, a successful film must tell a story that touches the hearts of audiences in any country. This is an important factor for distributors to decide whether to release the film to foreign markets or not, not just based on domestic revenue, because domestic and foreign audiences are not completely the same.
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