In recent years, film projects cooperating between Vietnam and Korea have received attention. However, box office results show that not every name has created the expected effect.
Among them, Jung Il Woo is the most prominent creator. In 2025, he appeared in "Mang me di bo" with Tuan Tran and Hong Dao. The film created a positive effect, grossing more than 171 billion VND, becoming one of the highest-grossing Vietnamese works of the year.
This success also opens up the next step for the actor in the Vietnamese market. After "Mang me di bo", Jung Il Woo continues to confirm his participation in "The Last Bullet" - a Vietnam-Korea cooperation project just introduced at the Da Nang Asian Film Festival 2026.
In the film, he plays Jin Jong Oh - a legendary shooter of Korea, who has faced Hoang Xuan Vinh (Nhan Phuc Vinh) many times in the international arena. The character is built like a big opponent in the journey to conquer the Olympic gold medal for Vietnamese sports.
This is also Jung Il Woo's second consecutive Vietnamese film project, showing the actor's increasingly clear attachment to the Vietnamese film market.
In the opposite direction, two projects featuring actors Lee Kwang Soo and Lee Yi Kyung have not created a similar breakthrough.
With "Tay anh giữ một vì sao", despite receiving attention thanks to the appearance of "Running Man" star Lee Kwang Soo, and being directed by Kim Sung Hoon - the person behind the success of "My little hero" - a project that grossed more than 56 million USD a decade ago, the film only achieved 11.7 billion VND in revenue, much lower than expected.
Meanwhile, "Mommy Comes Home" starring Lee Yi Kyung, Choi Daniel, Hoang Yen Chibi officially premiered from July 10, but the performance is quite bleak. According to Box Office Vietnam statistics, the work currently grossed more than 725 million VND (as of the afternoon of July 14), showing that the journey to conquer the audience still has many challenges.
The revenue gap between the three works shows that owning a Korean star is no longer a "guarantee" for box office success. Instead, the quality of the script, storytelling, ability to connect with Vietnamese audiences and word-of-mouth effects are still decisive factors.
However, the continuous participation of actors such as Jung Il Woo, Lee Kwang Soo and Lee Yi Kyung in Vietnamese films also reflects the increasing attraction of the domestic film market to Korean artists.
