Are Vietnamese films being suffocated by American and Korean blockbusters?

Exhuma has broken the record for the highest-grossing Korean film in the Vietnamese market, set by Suddenly Winning the Lottery (150 billion VND) - Photo: CGV

Without the shadow of Vietnamese films, the box office at the beginning of last week was still the playground of three blockbusters from the "cinematic powers" of the US and Korea: Dune 2, Kung Fu Panda 4 and Exhuma: Tomb Raider.

Foreign films dominate Vietnamese box office

Exhuma: The Ghost in the Tomb has held the top spot since its release, with the film's revenue as of the morning of March 25 being 165.7 billion VND, with an average of nearly 10,000 screenings each weekend.

Kung Fu Panda 4 lost its momentum from the beginning of last week and accepted second place. Currently, the total revenue of the DreamWorks animated film is 116.3 billion VND after exactly two weeks of showing.

Dune 2, although its revenue was much lower than its two competitors, was still given a special five-hour screening of parts 1 and 2 of the film in IMAX format. The film has currently earned 38.1 billion VND after three weeks of showing.

Released during this period, there was also a Vietnamese film that seemed to be "forgotten", that was the film The Heiress 2.

The film was released on March 8 but its revenue was only 6.4 billion VND.

It seems that Vietnamese audiences are also fed up with Vietnamese films with the theme of adultery or drama surrounding the love relationships of the rich. They want a film with a more familiar and relatable setting.

4 new movies from late March to April

After nearly a week of early screenings and three days of official release, the cai luong film Sang den unexpectedly outperformed the culinary film that brought Tran Anh Hung the Cannes award for best director in both revenue and screenings.

The box office in late March was a competition between two films that explored the relationship between human emotions and the art they pursue - Photo: IMDb/DPC

Specifically, Sang Den earned a total of 1 billion VND last weekend, bringing its total revenue to 2.1 billion VND, while Muon Vi Nhan Gian only earned a mere 1 billion VND and had less than 1,000 screenings a day.

The World of Flavours tells the love story of outstanding culinary expert Dodin Bouffant (played by Benoît Magine) and his lover, female chef Eugenie (played by Juliette Binoche).

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They have been together for over 20 years, cooking and developing new dishes together every day. Their love for each other is undeniable, but they never got married because their souls were not in sync and they were waiting for the right time.

The film Bright Lights is set in the 1990s, when reformed opera troupes began to lose their appeal to the people of the South. The Vien Phuong troupe of the producer (played by Meritorious Artist Huu Chau) suffered from a long period of lack of customers despite applying all measures.

The whole crew must find a way to overcome difficulties during the transitional period of the era to continue pursuing their intense passion for theater, which is also the message and spirit of the whole film.

Ranked 2nd and 3rd on the box office chart are Kung Fu Panda 4 and Dune 2 respectively - Photo: DreamWorks/Legendary

Blockbuster front and rear

Cinema at the end of March is also increasingly rich when in the middle of last week, four films were released to the audience at the same time, including a Vietnamese film called Bright Lights, a Thai supernatural horror film, a Korean psychological film and Muon Vi Nhan Gian, a French film directed by Tran Anh Hung.

It seems that the general audience will still prioritize choosing a Vietnamese film with familiar, easy-to-understand content and a bit of humor instead of art films with a slower pace and harder to perceive.

Compared to Muon vi nhan gian, Sang Den is more accessible to the majority of Vietnamese audiences - Photo: DPCC

This is also good news for the film about Southern Vietnamese reformed opera, since it had to withdraw from the Tet film race because it could not compete with Mai and Gap lai chi bau, the film also faced difficulties when it was released in the midst of Hollywood and Korean blockbusters "surrounding" it like it is now.

Sharing with Tuoi Tre at the premiere, the director of the film Sang Den - Hoang Tuan Cuong - also expressed his joy because the film returned to theaters after a month of withdrawal from the harsh Tet film race.

At the same time, he also expressed concern because Sang Den was released in a situation where it was "sandwiched" by blockbusters.

In front, Exhuma, Kung Fu Panda 4 and Dune 2 are still showing, while behind, the monster blockbuster Godzilla x Kong is approaching.

The film is also trying to "take advantage" of the "buffer" week from March 22 to 29, when Dune 2 and Kung Fu Panda 4 have shown signs of cooling down and Godzilla x Kong or Ghost Buster have not yet arrived in the Vietnamese market.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/phim-viet-co-bi-bop-nghet-boi-bom-tan-my-han-20240326094516072.htm