A turning point from the rise of Vietnamese films
New data on the film market shows the increasing role of Vietnamese films in the box office. According to statistics released by the CJ CGV Vietnam cinema system, in 2025, domestic films accounted for 62% of the total number of films released in theaters.
This figure reflects a significant change compared to the previous period, when Vietnam's box office mainly depended on international blockbusters. For many years, Vietnamese films often only focused on release during peak periods such as Tet or summer and faced many difficulties in competing with foreign works in terms of investment scale and promotion strategy.
However, in recent years, Vietnamese cinema has made strong strides. The number of domestic films released in theaters has increased significantly, and the production quality has also improved. Many filmmakers are paying more attention to scripts, images and audience approach strategies, contributing to creating projects with great attraction at the box office.
This development momentum helps the film market grow strongly after the period affected by the epidemic. In 2025, box office revenue reached nearly 5,600 billion VND with more than 70 million tickets sold, an increase of 24% and 29% respectively compared to 2024. Compared to the period before the epidemic in 2019, the revenue of the entire market has increased by more than 35%.
Notably, in the period 2023 - 2025, the average revenue of each Vietnamese film increased by about 3.8 times compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Many works achieved hundreds of billions of VND in revenue, continuously setting new milestones for the domestic box office.
Another notable detail is that the total revenue of Vietnamese films in 2025 is almost equivalent to the revenue of the entire Vietnamese film market in 2018. This shows that the scale of the domestic film industry has expanded significantly in just a few years.
Ms. Jeong Ji Young - General Director of CJ CGV Vietnam - said that the development of domestic films is a positive sign for the entire industry: "We expect that market information shared will help directors, producers and filmmaking units build more effective production and distribution strategies, thereby contributing to promoting the sustainable development of Vietnamese cinema.
Big opportunities but increasingly fierce competition
Although market share is increasing sharply, the Vietnamese film market is also entering a period of fierce competition. The revenue explosion of some works does not mean that all films achieve good results at the box office.
While some projects achieve hundreds of billions of VND in revenue, most films still stop at 20 - 50 billion VND. With increasing production costs, this revenue level is sometimes only enough to break even.
This shows that film investment in Vietnam is becoming a field with a lot of potential but also contains great risks. A film can be resoundingly successful, but it can also quickly leave theaters if it does not create interest from the audience.
Besides the content factor, changes in the audience's movie viewing habits are also significantly impacting the box office. Many audiences today no longer go to theaters right when the movie is newly released, but often wait for feedback from social networks or reviews from viewers beforehand.
This trend makes the "oral" element one of the decisive factors for the success or failure of a film. Good quality works can increase revenue thanks to the effect of spreading, while projects that do not convince the audience are easily eliminated.
In addition, the theater frequency of Vietnamese audiences is still low compared to many markets in the region. On average, each Vietnamese person currently watches movies about 0.7 times per year, lower than Singapore (1.3 times) or Malaysia (1 time).
This gap shows that the development potential of the Vietnamese film market is still large. If the habit of going to theaters continues to expand, the revenue scale of the industry may grow significantly in the coming years.
However, to take advantage of this opportunity, Vietnamese cinema needs to maintain content quality and diversify genres. In the context that audiences have many entertainment options, from online platforms to digital entertainment forms, cinemas can only retain viewers if they bring truly attractive films.
The fact that Vietnamese films account for 62% of the market share is therefore both a positive sign and a challenge. It shows that domestic cinema has gained a more solid position in the box office, but at the same time also sets higher requirements for filmmakers in improving quality and building long-term development strategies for the industry.
