In the first half of 2025, Vietnam's box office revenue exceeded 3,000 billion VND, an increase of nearly 270 billion VND compared to the same period last year and reaching more than 60% of the total revenue for the whole year of 2024. Of the 19 Vietnamese films released in theaters, 8 films reached the hundred billion VND mark - an encouraging number. There is a notable detail, the number of films with heavy losses has decreased significantly.
On the surface, these statistics bring excitement to the film industry. Because everyone understands that when a film reaches break-even revenue to profit, the investment cash flow will be rotated faster, easily attracting new resources, especially from investors outside the industry. This positive signal also opens up opportunities for the next projects to be invested in more systematically, in terms of scale and production process, contributing to improving the professionalism of the entire market. In terms of revenue, although the element of luck cannot be ruled out, it can be seen that filmmakers are grasping the audience's taste quite well. Instead of just focusing on making the best work within their ability and then letting the market "determine" the revenue, proactively understanding the audience's needs helps minimize losses. Many producers, especially investors, are increasingly interested in risk management, that is, using resources effectively, limiting losses and maximizing opportunities. The most popular strategy today is to focus on popular film genres. If the 2010s were the golden age of comedy, then currently, horror-spiritual films are dominating, when more than half of Vietnamese films released in the first 6 months of 2025 were horror films. Many films in this genre have continuously won big at the box office, even exceeding the hundred billion VND mark. From a business perspective, this is a safe choice, easy to recover capital. However, many opinions are concerned that this genre will follow the "rut" of previous comedies. This reality shows that depending on audience tastes can avoid risks today, but creates another type of risk in the future: saturation, monotony and gradual loss of trust from the audience.
A cinema that wants to have a brand and reach far, besides serving what the audience “wants to see”, should also shape what the audience “should see” - that is, expanding the taste of enjoyment, guiding perception and contributing to improving the aesthetics of the masses. That is also the greatest role and mission of the seventh art. Vietnamese cinema once had a memorable lesson from The Tunnel: The Sun in the Dark - a work that was once considered a “risky gamble” but was a resounding success. We need more films with such pioneering spirit. Because only diversity in genre, storytelling, perspective and artistic style… can create a solid foothold, especially when entering the international market, where uniqueness and cultural identity are always highly valued.
At the recent 2025 Da Nang Asian Film Festival, Korean film experts commented that Vietnamese commercial cinema is mainly focusing on comedy, family and horror. These are low-cost films with the potential to make quick profits, however, these genres are very difficult to reach globally. Previously, at the first Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival - 2024, experts from Thailand also warned that if they continue to follow the same theme, the audience will turn away and become bored with domestic films, just like what happened in Thailand with horror-comedy films.
A film market that wants to survive must rely on the success of commercial films. But to develop and affirm its brand, art films are the film genre that plays an important role. The responsibility and answer do not only lie with filmmakers but also require the cooperation of many levels, in which the most prominent is the support from film development funds built and managed by the State. That is also the lesson from the success of Korean cinema in recent times.
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/dien-anh-viet-chon-an-toan-hay-dot-pha-post803565.html
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