Vietnamese cinema is bustling with a series of hundred billion projects
It can be said that 2024 is the year that Vietnamese cinema is quite superior to foreign films, both in quantity and revenue. In particular, the Vietnamese box office recorded a revenue of more than 1,700 billion VND in 2024 (according to statistics from Box office Vietnam). Only 2 films by Tran Thanh and Ly Hai had a revenue of more than 1,000 billion VND, respectively "Mai" (520 billion VND) and "Lat mat 7 (482 billion VND).
Many domestic works are also attractive, with many films earning more than 100 billion VND, helping the total box office revenue of Vietnam in 2024 to improve. Other projects with good revenue include: Getting Rich with Ghosts (128 billion VND), Ghost (127 billion VND), Cam (96 billion VND), Linh Mieu: Quy Nhap Trang (85 billion VND).
Objectively speaking, Vietnamese films in 2024 have made certain improvements in terms of quality and content. Some projects have been invested more heavily in terms of special effects and settings by filmmakers. With Tran Thanh's film "Mai", he did not hesitate to spend 50 billion VND to make a film revolving around family love and love between couples. Or with the project "Lat mat 7", Ly Hai invested heavily in settings spanning from North to South.
In some horror films, many projects have improved in terms of special effects, making the audience have a more positive view of this film genre. Previously, horror film projects were quite selective of audiences due to poor investment and special effects. Therefore, the rise of this film genre in 2024 with a series of high-grossing projects has shown that Vietnamese films are still loved and chosen by domestic audiences to enjoy if they are made carefully and professionally.
There is no shortage of loss-making projects.
Although Vietnamese films in 2024 have many big hits, in reality, there are still many films that leave theaters with heavy losses.
The project "Claws" was announced with a high investment budget, and gathered famous actors such as Thao Tam, Tuan Tran, Rocker Nguyen... However, the work "Claws" by Le Thanh Son only earned more than 3.8 billion VND, a heavy loss despite the team's promotional efforts. Similarly, "4th Floor Murder" despite high expectations with two stars Luong Bich Huu and Truong The Vinh still could not attract attention at the box office, leaving theaters with a revenue of less than 2 billion VND.
The list of Vietnamese films with low revenue also includes: Fragile Flower (430 million VND), Domino: The Last Exit (596 million VND), B4S: Before the Love (more than 3.8 billion VND) and especially the film "Hot Girl Squad" which left the theaters with a revenue of less than 50 million VND. Most of the opinions said that the failed works were due to the limited script, many unreasonable details while the actors' acting was immature.
Change is needed to break through in 2025
Basically, the total revenue of Vietnamese films in 2024 is superior to previous years, but the picture of domestic cinema is very different.Dominating the box office are none other than two familiar names, Tran Thanh and Ly Hai.
Although there have been significant efforts to improve the film production process, filmmakers need to focus more on product quality, screenwriters need to expand the theme to bring new dishes.In particular, the promotion strategy needs to be invested more to get the audience to support and follow.
Clearly, 2025 is the year when Vietnamese cinema needs to break through and change many of the issues that it is still facing in 2024. After all, with quality films, audiences will always support them with high ticket sales, bringing great profits to producers.
Vietnamese audiences are increasingly demanding in choosing films to enjoy. Because currently, Vietnamese cinema is not only competing with domestic works, but cinema from Asian countries such as Thailand and Korea is also growing and producing many quality "blockbusters". Not to mention, Hollywood "blockbusters" are always a great pressure on the box office revenue race of Vietnamese filmmakers.
Therefore, if we can change and improve the quality of content and actors' performances, Vietnamese cinema will have the basis to compete fairly with foreign films in theaters.
(Posted in the special publication Lao Dong Xuan At Ty).
