Importing movies for theatrical release: Open opportunities, big challenges

The vibrant film market opens up many opportunities for the import of films for theatrical release. Photo: DPCC

Attractive market

The Thai film My Dear Bear, which has just been released in theaters, is the fourth work that Khang Media has imported and distributed in Vietnam through the distributor CGV, after Tre trau khong quy dua, Rider - Giao hang cho ma and Yeu vi tien, dien vi tinh. Khang Media's representative, director - Meritorious Artist Vu Thanh Vinh commented: "The number of audiences going to theaters is increasing sharply, showing the great potential of the domestic cinema market. That's why, at the recent Hong Kong International Film and Television Fair, many international partners approached us with the desire to bring films to Vietnam, and they were even willing to sell at preferential prices."

Producer Hang Trinh - CEO of Skyline Media (film production and distribution unit) said that the imported film market is having many advantages such as the censorship process has become more open, typically many horror films that were previously difficult to release in theaters are now easily accessible to audiences. In addition, the appearance of many film importers has also contributed to making the market more vibrant. "No unit can dominate the entire market. Therefore, the strategy of working together, cooperating together and sharing segments will be the most sustainable direction," Ms. Hang Trinh commented.

Meritorious Artist Vu Thanh Vinh believes that opportunities are always open, even for new units. According to him, in terms of business, it is not necessary to be the top revenue seller to make a profit, but it also depends on the price of the film. "If you buy 1 and sell 3, you will make a profit, and if you sell 2, you will break even. Therefore, film importers will proactively import niche films such as art films, experimental films, etc., creating diversity for the domestic cinema market," Meritorious Artist Vu Thanh Vinh analyzed.

According to director Nguyen Huu Tuan, representative of the unit that just imported the animated film Flow, tastes always have a big shift between generations and geographical regions, understanding this will determine the film purchasing strategy. Many units prioritize searching for films with content suitable for new tastes, unique scripts, close to regional culture or possessing a loyal audience.

Eat profit, bear loss

Assessing that the imported film market has many opportunities but also faces many challenges, producer Hang Trinh analyzed it from two aspects. Firstly, importing blockbusters has always been considered a safe strategy, but it seems to be no longer effective. A series of domestic blockbusters have recently failed at the box office, most recently Snow White and Mickey 17.

The vibrant film market opens up many opportunities for the import of theatrical films.

According to information from Box Office Vietnam, Mickey 17 only earned more than 4 billion VND in ticket sales. With the popularity of this work, the purchase price (although not specifically announced) was certainly not cheap, so the importer had to suffer a lot of losses. The second aspect is that companies that own large theater systems have an advantage in buying films from large studios. The number of domestic and foreign companies participating in the market of buying films for theatrical release is increasing, causing copyright prices for certain film genres and countries to increase, leading to great competition. The budget for promotion and communication is also increasing.

Currently, there are basic forms of film import: buying outright, depositing to receive films from the studios and sharing a percentage of the revenue. With the deposit form, if the film loses, it means losing the deposit; if it wins, after deducting the costs, the percentage will be calculated and shared with the film studio. According to Meritorious Artist Vu Thanh Vinh, many units currently choose to buy films in packages to get preferential prices. However, this form also has a consequence that the quality of the films in the package is often uneven, there are good films but also many low-quality films, difficult to attract audiences.

The current import price of films has a large fluctuation range, from a few thousand USD to a few hundred thousand USD, in some cases this fee can reach millions of USD, depending on the scale and brand of the film. According to Meritorious Artist Vu Thanh Vinh, many films have strong competition between Vietnamese importers, causing the selling price to increase 3-4 times compared to the original price.

“I think releasing a foreign film is like playing a card game, which means the luck factor is very high. There are too many lessons from previous films for us to refer to, but the truth is that no film will be the same as another. Therefore, it is all about judgment and belief in your choice, from which you can come up with an appropriate budget to safely reach the finish line,” said producer Hang Trinh.

The Thai film 404: Run Now is the only imported film to have topped the weekly box office in Vietnam since the beginning of 2025. According to Box Office Vietnam, the film has surpassed the 105 billion VND mark in revenue. The film is considered to have many favorable factors to attract domestic audiences such as: being released right in the preparation period for the traditional New Year, domestic films are waiting to be released in theaters during the New Year, so the film hardly faces much competition; Thai cinema is quite familiar to Vietnamese audiences; the dubbed version is considered attractive and easy to access for audiences...

VAN TUAN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/nhap-khau-phim-chieu-rap-co-hoi-mo-thach-thuc-lon-post790382.html