Good signs for Vietnamese cinema in 2024
The Vietnamese cinema market has been getting hotter and hotter in recent years. 2024 can be considered an exciting year for Vietnamese cinema screens with the appearance of many new projects.
According to statistics from Box Office Vietnam, in 2024, the market share of domestic films shown in theaters will reach VND 1,700 billion out of a total of more than VND 4,400 billion in theater film revenue. This figure is clearly an improvement compared to 2023 (revenue of Vietnamese films on the big screen is about VND 1,500 billion).
Among the 28 Vietnamese films released in 2024, there are many high-grossing films such as: "Mai" (551 billion VND), "Lat mat 7: Mot giau" (482 billion VND), "Lat giau voi ma" (128 billion VND), "Ma da" (127 billion VND), "Cam" (96.3 billion VND), "Gap lai chi bau" (92.7 billion VND), "Linh luc: Quy nhap trang" (81.8 billion VND)...
It is worth mentioning that also in 2024, a number of Vietnamese films were highly appreciated and won awards at prestigious international film festivals.
Typically, the film "Cu li khong bao nuoc" by director Pham Ngoc Lan won the Best Debut Film award at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival, the film "Mua tren can buom" by director Duong Dieu Linh won the Circolo del Cinema Verona award for most creative film and the Iwonderfull Grand Prize for best film at the 81st Venice Film Festival, the film "Ben trong vo vang vang" by director Pham Thien An also received 2 nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards...
In particular, in mid-2024, the project "Peach, Pho and Piano" created a box office fever in the domestic market. The State-ordered work received such public attention that it had to continuously increase screenings and release them in many theater systems to serve the audience.
Obviously, compared to previous years, Vietnamese cinema in 2024 has many positive signs in terms of the number of films produced, revenue, quality and reputation in the international arena.
"Sifting through sand to find gold" because there are many movies but few impressions
Last year, although many films were released, the number of works that earned hundreds of billions in revenue could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Among the 28 Vietnamese films released in theaters, a series of films had low revenue, even heavy losses such as: "Hot girl squad" (67.9 million VND), "Fragile flower" (430 million VND), "Domino: The last escape" (596.7 million VND)...
The audience's indifference is the most authentic evidence that Vietnamese cinema in 2024 is not as excellent and successful as expected.
In addition to poor revenue, the quality of Vietnamese films on the big screen is also a controversial topic. "Mai" and "Lat mat 7" achieved high revenue and were released in the international market but were still not really impressive.
Accordingly, the film "Mai" was once in the top 15 highest-grossing films in the world in early 2024, and was also the Vietnamese film with the highest international revenue (nearly 2 million USD). However, on Rotten Tomatoes, the work does not display critics' scores because there are too few reviews. The "rotten tomatoes" score from the audience is 35%.
Or "Lat mat 7" by Ly Hai, after its impressive debut in Vietnam, was also available in 12 countries and territories around the world such as the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand... However, many audiences and domestic and international critics commented that the work was too sentimental, with an old and boring script.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received 8 positive reviews, but the work did not have enough 50 ratings to be recognized by this website as a reputable review.
The "phenomenon" of the year - "Peach, Pho and Piano" only brought in a mere 20 billion VND in box office revenue. Many people commented that they went to see the movie only because of "patriotism", and the quality of the work was not as expected.
"Peach, Pho and Piano" represented Vietnam in the Oscars but did not make it into the top 15 nominees for Best International Feature Film.
In reality, Vietnamese films have not really left a strong impression on audiences and professionals both domestically and internationally. However, it cannot be denied that the film industry has made efforts in 2024 to launch many new products, despite facing many difficulties and competitive pressures in the market.
Hopefully in 2025, the Vietnamese film market will release many outstanding works, meeting the needs in terms of both quality and box office revenue.
