Are We For Real? Phoreal: Booming Vietnamese Film Market

It’s not that new, but we think you should know.

This is our first B-Roll issue of a two-part series: “Cinematic Odyssey: Investing OverSEAs,” which dives into:

• Two of the most flourished markets leading the film industry in South-East Asia: Vietnam and Thailand (see what we did there in the capitalized ‘SEA’ in our title)

• The natural synergy that could exist between foreign investors, namely North American, and film companies in the mentioned countries

• Why diversifying film investment portfolio is attractive (mainly because you get to travel for good food?)

So, what’s the buzz all about?

First stop, “Mai” of Vietnam

Let’s start with Vietnam’s all-time, highest-grossing film that just landed in the theatres this 2024 Lunar New Year (sorry, that was a mouthful to read).

And the number is still growing.

It is “Mai,” a romantic, comedy movie directed by Tran Thanh, a celebrated comedian, actor, emcee and show host in Vietnam. The movie follows the protagonist, Mai, as she navigates her life as a masseu.

The film traces the journey of its protagonist, Mai, navigating the challenges of her troubled life as a masseuse. Mai confronts persistent issues of sexism and classism, seeking solace and liberation through the complex terrain of, again, a troubled love.

Premiered in February 10, Deadline reported that “Mai” tallied USD$16.4M as of February 23. If compared the box-office number to that of Hollywood, it might seem underwhelming. So we’ve done the work to put it into context.

So if you do the math, which you don’t have to, it’s in the billions now.

USD$16,400,000 is roughly 400,000,000,000 VND.

Undeniably, that’s one too many zeros to even fathom, given that Vietnam’s average salary per month in Q3 of 2023 is only USD$283.92, as reported by Statista.

This stark economic juxtaposition not only highlights the film’s commercial success but also signals an extraordinary growth trajectory for Vietnam’s film industry. Most importantly, there is a high demand and hungry appetite for quality entertainment.

Backed by one of the largest entertainment companies in South Korea, CJ HK Entertainment, it’s not premature to say Vietnam is on the road to dominate South East Asia’s film market, and that more and more foreign investors are weighing interests in Vietnam.

And perhaps, in all of Asia.

A Triple-threat Film Discography

This is not the first time that Tran Thanh, the director and actor in “Mai,” has broken records in the box office before.

But one thing about him, he likes breaking his very own box-office record. And it is as followed:

Highest-grossing film in Vietnam for 2021: “Bố già” - 395,000,000,000 VND (Tran Thanh’s first film)

Highest-grossing film in Vietnam for 2023: “Nhà bà Nữ” - 459,000,000,000 VND

And as of right now, “Mai” is leading the market with its current box-office.

According to Deadline, those three films outnumbered any other Hollywood movies distributed in Vietnam in the three years that they came out.

Relevance, Relevance, Relevance

If you’ve missed it last week, we discussed some of the most popular themes in cinema right now, produced widely by the rising cultural conglomerate studio, A24. 

From the sensational Everything, Everywhere All at Once, Past Lives, Memory to Monsters, it seems like audiences world-wide are looking for relevance.

Slice-of-life type of relevance.

Something so relevant that this ever-changing world with the emergence of AI can never disrupt, such as the immigrant experience and complex human relationships.

Most importantly, vulnerability.

And this slice-of-life theme appears in all of Tran Thanh’s films. All three take place in a small, working-class commune, in which each character faces different but familiar life crises.

• Coming of age, wanting to break free from norms and shelter

• Hardships through paycheck after paycheck

• Social class interference in relationships

Especially, with the increasing economic strains, traditional jobs’ displacement, and expectations, these themes resonate strongly with the youth demographic, a substantial consumer base. Certainly, one need to weigh in the importance of other factors like production and execution as well.

What’s in it for investors?

The continuous reign of Vietnamese films over international box-office scoring Hollywood products show how untapped markets, such as South-East Asian markets, can be an attractive destination for long-term investment with little volatility.

We can already see the example of South Korea’s cinematic titan, CJ HK Entertainment, dipping its toes into this market through “Mai.” And South Korea is arguably one of the most influential film industries in the world and can be spoken of on par with Hollywood or Bollywood.

The challenge right now is diversifying investors’ portfolio geographically and capitalizing on booming markets.

So why waiting on it?

Recommended for You

It’s not The Produced without our very unbiased recommendations. Add these recent films to your unwatched, prolonging and dusting Netflix watchlist.

By the way, Vietnam has a plethora of incredibly good food, and for the record, it’s not all phở. Or even variations of Phở. Try these next time:

Hết rồi đó.

What are your thoughts? Connect with me via Instagram and Twitter, I love a good yapping session.

Stay safe, breathe a bit slower, and see you on Wednesday for our weekly market recap Roll the Tape.