Tran Thanh's 2 films earned 515 billion, Vietnamese box office 2023 was a disaster

In March 2021, Tran Thanh became a phenomenon on the Vietnamese screen when he debuted as co-director, screenwriter, producer and main actor of the film.Godfatherwith extremely impressive revenue in the context of cinema crisis after the Covid-19 epidemic.

Tran Thanh proves that he is not lucky but a talented filmmaker who knows how to attract audiences to the theater right from his first film.

Release the second movie on Lunar New Year, immediatelyMrs. Nu's housecreated a huge explosion at the box office, continuously breaking all revenue records and ending with a record number: 475 billion VND, always winning the top position in the list of highest-grossing films of all time.

Mrs. Nu's housedirected by and starring Tran Thanh, became a highlight of the Vietnamese box office last year, even leading the top 10 most searched keywords in the field of cinema in 2023 on Google Vietnam.

It doesn't stop there,Southern Forest Land -The movie Tran Thanh continued to participate in with many roles became the next box office hit when it earned 140 billion VND during the low season.

Southern forest landAlthough released in mid-October, it quickly ranked 3rd among the highest-grossing films of 2023, according to Box Office Vietnam.

Thus, the two films with Tran Thanh have earned 515 billion VND. It is worth mentioning that any film with Tran Thanh is almost guaranteed to have high revenue and is always controversial when released.

Ranked second in revenue isFlip Side 6by Ly Hai. The film premiered on April 30 and earned 273 billion VND, a number that is different from the other hundred billion VND films in the top revenue. As the best part of the whole series,Flip Side 6proving the great attraction of the brandFlip sideand Ly Hai helped create another box office explosion last year.

Meanwhile, 2 moviesSuper cheater meets super foolandSister sister 2together earned 121 billion VND. TeamThe Last Wifeannounced that the film had surpassed the 100 billion VND mark, but data from Box Office Vietnam shows that the film only earned 96 billion. Thus, in 2023, only 5 films will surpass the 100 billion VND mark in revenue and the total revenue of the 7 highest-grossing films will reach 1,301 billion VND, a dream number.

However, the Vietnamese box office in 2023 also witnessed the tragic death of countless Vietnamese films. Despite strong media coverage and a cast of famous actors, films that were poor in content and image and had nothing special could not stay in theaters for long with poor revenue.

According to data from Box Office Vietnam, the total revenue of the 7 worst films at the box office was only 17 billion VND, most of which had a meager revenue of about 2 billion VND. This means that the producer only earned half of that after deducting for the theaters, not to mention the media and distribution costs, which almost certainly resulted in a loss.

Audiences now have more channels to consider before deciding to buy a ticket to the cinema. Economic difficulties, many movie titles to choose from outside the cinema, plus easy access to movies on online platforms, make viewers more cautious when spending money on movie tickets, unless it is a good work or a must-see in the cinema.

Controversies surrounding the film or 'dirty' PR tricks no longer have the effect of attracting audiences to the cinema because they have diverse reference channels. The effectiveness of word of mouth always works, they will easily ignore a film that is criticized by netizens or feel like they have wasted money and time going to the cinema to see a bad film. Therefore, films with poor quality have almost no chance of "surviving" after 1 week in theaters.

A long list of low-quality films that grossed little when released last year can be seen below:Zombie Ferry(4 billion),When I was twenty-five(3 billion),Touch happinessandIntersection 8675(2.4 billion),Live: Live Stream (2 billion) andFanta(1.8 billion).

The most regrettable thing isInside the golden cocoon- The film that helped Pham Thien An win the Golden Camera Award for his debut film at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival was so picky that it only earned 1.4 billion VND when it was shown in Vietnamese theaters. This is the predictable outcome of art films. Because even blockbustersBlood MoonDespite the sky-high production cost of up to 200 million USD from a team of top Hollywood directors and actors, the film only earned 6 billion VND in Vietnamese theaters.

The movie with the lowest box office revenue last year wasSleeping City.Released on the same day asSouthern forest landBut this low-budget film was only shown in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with very few screenings because it is a difficult film to watch and has a selective audience.Sleeping Cityonly stayed in theaters for 2 weeks and left with a record low revenue: 230 million VND.

2023 ends with a diverse picture of revenue and it is also very difficult to predict the taste of Vietnamese audiences. Tet films have been completed and are in the promotional race to prepare for the most exciting movie season of the year at the cinema. The participation of Tran Thanh in the 3rd film project premiering from the first day of Lunar New Year 2024 is expected to bring another explosion to the Vietnamese box office in 2024.

The revenue gap between the lowest and highest grossing films in the market is absolutely terrifying!

336880467 738866254551193 8638159378381976696 n.jpg — *Critic Nguyen Phong Viet*

"2023 is the most successful year in terms of revenue in the history of Vietnamese cinema. Of course, every year we have films with high revenue and films with low revenue. In fact, there are films that have reached a revenue of 230 million, compared to the peak revenue ofMrs. Nu's houseNearly 500 billion, we clearly see that the revenue gap between the lowest and highest films on the market is extremely terrible.

However, 2023 is still the year with the highest revenue in the whole market. We even have a movie that goes down in the history of Vietnamese cinema with the highest revenue.Mrs. Nu's house.If you look at the huge achievements, you will see that this is a successful year. There will be works that are popular, but there will also be works that stop at the level of being released to theaters but the audience is not interested, that is normal in a functioning market.

For me, this is a year with many positive signs and shows the great potential of Vietnamese cinema, it's just whether filmmakers can bring truly attractive films to make audiences go to the cinema or not. The proof is films likeMrs. Nu's House, Flip Side 6really drew audiences to the theaters and they watched the movie with great enjoyment, seeing that the money and time they spent on a movie was completely worth it, even surpassing their expectations.

Perhaps 2024 will face two important problems. That is, the affected economy of 2023 will affect the revenue of films in 2024. Revenue in 2024 will depend on the first two quarters of the year, including the Tet film season withTomorrowof Tran Thanh and the occasion of April 30th withFlip Side 7by Ly Hai. These are still the two blockbusters that audiences are most looking forward to in 2024. However, I think it will be difficult for 2024 to reach the revenue of 2023, let alone surpass it."

Critic Nguyen Phong Viet