Foreign films take the lead
According to Box Office Vietnam, on July 27, the leading box office positions all belonged to foreign films. Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" grossed more than 2.9 billion VND, selling about 29,000 tickets through 1,500 screenings, raising total revenue in Vietnam to more than 63 billion VND. The 173-minute film still attracts audiences thanks to the director's name, production scale and large promotion campaigns.
Legendary Detective Conan: The Fallen Angel on the Highway" is also in the leading group with revenue on July 27 of more than 3.5 billion VND. The Japanese animated work has nearly 3,700 screenings, showing great priority from cinema complexes. The film's accumulated revenue reached about 93 billion VND.
Next is "Minions & Monsters". The work grossed nearly 887 million VND on July 27, raising total revenue to nearly 152 billion VND. After a long time in theaters, the film still maintains nearly 700 screenings.
The success of "Minions & Monsters" continues to show the advantage of branded animated films in the summer. Easy-to-reach content, suitable for children and families, helps the film have a broader audience group than many other works.
However, considering the overall box office, the fact that three foreign works consecutively occupy the highest positions still reveals the gap of Vietnamese films in the peak summer period.
Vietnamese films lose momentum and the problem of keeping screenings
Ghost Rider" was once expected to create momentum for domestic films when it was released in theaters in July. The work belongs to the horror genre, with the participation of Quang Tuan - a familiar face in this film genre.
In the early days of screening, the film reached about 13-14 billion VND and ranked in the top box office group. However, the appeal of the work was not maintained for long. On July 27, "Quỷ bắt hồn" only grossed about 156 million VND, with more than 371 screenings.
The accumulated revenue of the film is currently around 35 billion VND. This is not too low a result if looking at the general level of many Vietnamese films, but it is not enough to create a phenomenon or reverse the summer competition.
When new works such as "The Odyssey" and the 29th film of the "Conan" series appeared, the number of screenings for "The Ghost Rider" immediately narrowed. The revenue in the day dropped sharply, making it increasingly difficult for the film to get into theaters.
Lau Chu Hoa" is also almost completing its journey outside theaters. On July 27, the film only brought in about 3.5 million VND. The accumulated revenue of the work reached more than 78 billion VND.
Considering total revenue, "Lầu chú Hỏa" is not a complete failure. The film once topped the box office and surpassed the 40 billion VND mark after about a week of screening. The project also shows that the material of urban legend, history and Vietnamese horror still has a certain attraction.
However, the revenue of over 78 billion VND has not created a booming effect commensurate with other hundred-billion VND Vietnamese films before. Towards the end of the journey, the film almost disappeared from competition when the daily revenue was only a few million VND.
A more unfortunate case is "Mesdames Thanh Sac". The film marks Thanh Hang's return to the big screen, gathering Hong Anh, Luong The Thanh and many notable actors. The work invests in the Saigon context of the 1960s, costumes and images are aesthetic.
However, the film only achieved about 8.6 billion VND after the early days and ended its journey in theaters with revenue of about 17 billion VND. Previously, the project was predicted by observers to have a budget of 40-60 billion VND.
Revenue of 17 billion VND makes it difficult for "Mesdames Thanh Sac" to recover capital after sharing ticket money with theaters and related units.
Reality shows that famous actors, beautiful settings or large budgets no longer guarantee appeal. Audiences increasingly value scripts, narration rhythm and overall experience.
Vietnamese films still have limitations in distribution strategies, many horror and spiritual works lack differentiation, making it difficult to compete with foreign films with brands.
Although summer is a time when the demand for family entertainment is high, Vietnamese films have not taken good advantage of it, almost leaving the animation, adventure and family comedy segments vacant.
The gap of Vietnamese films is not only in revenue but also in the lack of diversity. Domestic films still depend on horror, spiritual and star topics, while there is a lack of works for families and young people.
