After Tran Thanh’s film Mai, Vietnamese cinema collapsed, theaters were in decline

After Tran Thanh’s ‘Mai’, Vietnamese films fell into a slump

The Vietnamese film market opened in early 2024 with a vibrant opening with a total revenue of 650 billion VND. Among them, movies roof by Tran Thanh continues to break box office records with more than 550 billion VND, Meet my pregnant sister again of Nhat Trung reached nearly 93 billion VND (according to data from Box Office Vietnam).

Continuing the success of roof, Vietnamese cinema in the past 4 months has had a few names entering the scene. But the sad thing is that all projects fell into decline, most of them had to withdraw from theaters with heavy losses.

Most recently, film Fragile flower by Mai Thu Huyen only earned 394 million VND after nearly 2 weeks in theaters. According to the manufacturer, the project needs to collect hundreds of billions of dong to break even because investment and production costs are very expensive. With the current revenue momentum, there is a high possibility that the film will have to leave theaters before the April 30 holiday, and at the same time be recognized as the heaviest loss-making production in Vietnamese theater history.

Lady heiress 2 – a work made by actress Trang Nhung and her husband, director Hoang Duy – left the theater when it earned just over 6 billion VND. The producer representative said the film needs to reach 40 billion VND to break even.

Light up – old Cai Luong movies are in a similar slump. Despite his efforts to return to theaters, director Hoang Tuan Cuong’s work only reached more than 3.4 billion VND (including both premiere times).

Similar, Tea – the 18+ work marking the return of director Le Hoang only earned 1.6 billion VND. The film was forced to leave theaters after a few days of opening on Tet 2024 and has no further release plans.

Since mid-April, the Vietnamese box office has added 2 new works The price of happiness and B4S – Before love. Both projects exploit opposite topics, one side is a family drama, the other side focuses on the topic of love and sex of young people. However, both works opened in the first week below expectations and have not been able to revive the series of box office failures of Vietnamese films in recent times.

Up to the present time, the following works roof all fell into a state of loss. A few tens of billions of lost revenue is a sad number for the filmmaker who has to suffer failure right on his home turf.

This raises a question mark for directors and producers to find solutions in choosing worthy and quality projects to invest effort and economy in and convince the public to go to theaters.

There are countless reasons why movies lose money

In addition to being of good quality, a work released in theaters must have resonance from external factors, especially the time of release. Choosing the right premiere time, without being subject to competitive pressure from domestic and foreign competitors, helps the film ensure some revenue.

Professionals have many different opinions to explain the situation of losses. The unfavorable release environment and many competitors are also the reasons why some films “die prematurely”.

The past 3 months have been the time when Vietnamese theaters witnessed the arrival of international projects of diverse genres. These blockbusters all have high revenue: Excavating ghosts’ graves (211 billion VND), Godzilla x Kong: New Empire (135 billion VND), Kung Fu Panda 4 (134 billion VND).

The pressure from foreign films is easy to see when they are released at the same time as Vietnamese films. The name of the project from the “big guys”, combined with the previous positive effects when launched abroad is what attracts the curiosity of domestic audiences.

Tung Leo – director B4S – Before love talk to VietNamNet The success or failure of a work depends largely on the communication and promotion strategy.

“Revenue is a very difficult story to tell. Based on revenue, we cannot judge whether the film is of good quality or not, we can only say how good the marketing quality is.

I have many friends who said that at first they had no intention of watching the movie, then were influenced by some content posts: The movie is good, attractive, very good… so they were curious and went to the theater. But when the film goes through the first stage, the audience experiences it for themselves, then that is real feedback,” he stated.

On the other hand, some directors and producers explained that the film lost money because of pressure on screenings. Director Mai Thu Huyen believes that films are dependent on foreign distributors such as CGV and Lotte – which hold most of the Vietnamese theater market.

With the newly released work, Mai Thu Huyen affirmed that she was treated unfairly, forced to show only 1-2 shows per theater, and bad show times in the morning or late at night, making it difficult for the public to access. Before that, the manufacturer Great martial arts students have a similar bet with the publisher when the movie fails.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hai – Content Director of CGV Vietnam responded that all theaters always have clear screening rules based on the actual needs of the audience. Advance ticket sales are one of the few bases for theaters to schedule screenings. After the movie officially hits theaters, based on purchasing power, theaters continue to make appropriate adjustments for the next stage.

Don’t blame, find the cause!

In fact, in the last 4 years, there have been many cases where films achieved record revenues and there were also many works that “hit bottom”.

One expert believes that the clear differentiation in revenue and quality is something filmmakers must consider and learn from if they want to pursue their long-term dream of making movies, instead of choosing to dump their money. make mistakes without looking back at yourself.

Film critic Le Hong Lam commented that the quality of entertainment films is not high, not to mention that many works are too old, bland and disastrous, making the audience’s prejudice against Vietnamese films still heavy, causing customers to Dozens of works suffered losses in addition to a few successful projects.

After the Covid-19 epidemic, the public’s enjoyment habits have changed more or less. They care more about content quality and are selective before spending money in theaters. For quality works, viewers are willing to support them, and vice versa, for bad movies, they are willing to post criticisms.

In discussions about Vietnamese cinema, the story of the script is always discussed. Experts believe that content is the decisive factor in deciding whether a film wins or loses. This is also the fatal point that causes most works to “fall” because of the lack of good, attractive stories, enough to attract the audience.

For example, movies Fragile flower Although heavily invested in PR and filmed 100% in the US, the script is bland and difficult to create sympathy; The price of happiness There are many illogical details, overwhelming messages, lacking necessary depth; B4S – Before love has a new topic, exploits multiple characters but fails to create a connection, so the story told becomes fragmentary and inconsequential.

Two directors Hoang Tuan Cuong (Light up), Hoang Duy (Lady heiress 2) also admitted that the script, acting and setting were the limitations that prevented the film from reaching the masses.

All hopes for Vietnamese cinema this summer are all in Turn over 7 by Ly Hai. The film is expected to be a big hit at the box office, after its achievements roof by Tran Thanh at the beginning of the year.

However, many people wonder if the current market only has Tran Thanh and Ly Hai capable of fighting? Vietnam probably needs more private brands like these two artists to help the market develop comprehensively, instead of glimmering 1-2 rays of light and then disappearing like in the past.

Movie trailer ‘Mai’ – holds box office revenue record

Lesson 2: How to save Vietnamese movies that have revenue disasters and heavy losses?

Golden time of Vietnamese cinemaWith positive signals from box office revenue records to prestigious awards and nominations at a number of international festivals, Vietnamese cinema has had a year with many breakthroughs. We are in a “golden” moment where we can create even greater milestones.