Vietnam’s film market is waking up. In general, the Southeast Asian film market is on a roll, but Vietnam’s film market is showing considerable potential in various ways. To have a better indication, it is important to first understand the size and history of Vietnam’s film industry.

Vietnam’s film industry began when the State launched the Vietnam Cinema Department in 1953. Although it started out as a government-initiated industry, it slowly reduced State support with the reform and open-door policy adopted in 1986, replacing the gap with a market competition system where civilian-run film companies could join in the race. Unfortunately, opening the market to foreign film imports depressed the domestic industry as local film companies could not compete with Hollywood and other foreign films’ capital and technology. Currently, there are around 60 film companies active in Vietnam, yet domestic production rate is low. According to local film industry statistics, among the160 films released per year, the number of local films range around 15-20 which is a market share of 20%, whereby Hollywood films take up the remaining 80%. Statistics in 2013 records 15 million in total number of moviegoers in Vietnam, which has an annual theatergoing rate of 0.16 times per person. There are a total of 90 theaters and 220 screens, USD55 million in gross sales, and ticket price ranging around USD3.7. 

Just by looking at the numbers, CJ E&M discovered a hidden potential in the Vietnamese film industry which was stagnant rather than booming. For the past couple of years, CJ E&M consistently pushed its Vietnam project to finally see its first results: the Vietnam theatrical release of Let Hoi Decide on December 12th. Then what potential did CJ E&M notice in Vietnam’s film market? Mike IM, SVP of International Sales & Distribution at CJ E&M is in charge of direct distribution to Asia. IM explained, “To look at the big picture, Vietnam has a high population of 90 million whereby 60% is under the age of 35. Furthermore, its government has shown a strong will to promote economic growth through its local film industry. From a film market point-of-view, Vietnam is drastically lacking in theater numbers considering its population, yet its theater infrastructure is expanding at a fast rate. In addition, the number of local film releases and local film market shares are low, but a considerable number of excellent production related human resources exist. Furthermore, top rating local films in the local box office are scoring higher than Hollywood films, and interesting enough, this phenomenon is displaying a steep rise.”

Let Hoi Decide released last December 12th in 62 theaters on 70 screens nationwide. It is the sequel to De Mai Tinh which ranks among the highest grossing Vietnamese films to date. From the development stage, the film attracted substantial interest as a collaboration between Vietnam’s top commercial film director Charlie Nguyen and Vietnam’s favorite male actor Thai Hoa. Especially, Thai Hoa, before the release of Let Hoi Decide, stormed last year’s local box office as the male lead of Long Ruoi and Teo Em. Long Ruoi earned VND 42 billion (approx. USD1.8 million) in ticket sales while Teo Em earned VND 60 billion (approx. USD2.8 million), ranking them both as mega blockbusters in the local market.

As a ‘romantic human comedy’, Let Hoi Decide tells the destined encounter, love and conflict of three men: ‘Hoi’, the film’s main character who is attracted to men; ‘San’ who is driven to use his exceptional painting talent out of poverty to draw imitations of famous paintings, and hotelier ‘Thu le’ who is in love with Nam, but is forced to marry another person.

Let Hoi Decide’s Vietnamese partner, ‘Chanh Phung Film' also produced blockbuster hit Teo Em starring Thai Hoa. CJ E&M was involved in the investment, production management and marketing of Let Hoi Decide. In addition to Let Hoi Decide, CJ E&M is preparing the release of their following Korean-Vietnamese co-production film Three Girls whose Vietnamese partner is also Chanh Phung Film. Aiming for a February – March theatrical release in 2015, Three Girls is now in post-production. The film deals with the adventures of three women who meet on a breathtaking resort. The women who have nothing in common including age, personality and occupation, all get drunk to wake up to a mess they have to fix. The film comically traces the clues the women find as they piece together what happened the night before.

The reason why CJ E&M is so invested in Korean-Vietnamese co-production projects is in response to the rapidly expanding theater infrastructure. In 2011, CJ CGV ranked as the largest cinema exhibitor in Vietnam after they took over local cinema theater chain Megarstar. Among the 269 screens nationwide, CGV retains 14 theaters, and a total of 100 screens. By the end of this year, CJ CGV will open an addition of 6 new theaters which will raise the company’s exhibition capacity to a total of 136 screens. Last year’s sales showed a 25% increase of USD41 million (KRW46 billion) compared to last year while business profits showed a 15% increase of USD7.7 million (KRW8.5 billion). The expansion of theater infrastructure demanded a need for contents production which spurred Korean-Vietnamese co-production projects.

 

The success story of CJ CGV’s overseas venture reflects a general growth in the Vietnamese film market whereby ticket sales jumped from USD2.5 million in 2009 to USD55 million in 2013, a growth rate that has multiplied 22 times in four years. And during this period, market shares of local films increased from under 10% to 20%, indicating a rapidly growing market. Like Korea, Vietnam’s local film industry is quickly developing with the expansion of multiplexes. And this is why Korean filmmakers should pay attention to Vietnam’s film industry as a hot location for global ventures. The Vietnamese film market’s growth rate is significant enough for it to be more than just a potential market.