“Exhuma: Unearthing the Ghostly Tomb” surpassed the Vietnamese work “Demon Dog” to become the highest-grossing horror film at the Vietnamese box office. Currently, the film has no competition in theaters, knocking down domestic films right at home.
Foreign films dominate Vietnamese films
As of the evening of March 25, Quat Tomb with Ghosts recorded a revenue of 170 billion VND in Vietnam, according to data from Box Office Vietnam.
After 10 days of release, the film with the theme of demonic possession set a record for the highest-grossing horror work in Vietnam, surpassing the domestic film Ghost Dog (which set a record in December 2023).
Sharing with Tien Phong, Mr. Khanh Duong, founder of Box Office Vietnam, said that Tomb of the Tomb sold nearly 2 million tickets after 10 days of release, an occupancy rate of about 31%.
“Compared to other films released in theaters at the same time, Tomb of the Ghost has a much better occupancy rate. The number of tickets sold is also better. The work ranked second at the box office last week was Kung Fu Panda 4 with a higher occupancy rate. Filling is only about 20%,” Mr. Khanh Duong said.
During the weekend, Exhuma: Unearthing the Tomb of the Ghosts dropped about 50% in revenue, but overall it is still the most attention-grabbing foreign work at the Vietnamese box office today.
The case of Exhuma: Unearthing Ghostly Tombs is quite similar to Mai and Dao, pho and piano from a media perspective. It is not difficult to see reviews and requests to see Exhuma in theaters from audiences all over the forum. In addition to the content being rated as easy to watch, the psychology of Unearthing the Tomb of a Ghost has something that makes audiences flock to theaters, helping the film attract more and more customers.
Without much change, the movie ranked second at the box office is Kung Fu Panda 4, about 14.1 billion VND. Currently, the work has a total revenue of 117 billion VND, becoming the second animated film in Vietnam to surpass the 100 billion VND mark, after Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022).
Dune 2 continues to rank 3rd with weekend revenue of about 1.8 billion VND. After many great reviews but difficult to follow without watching part 1, Dune is not enough to compete with a movie recommended by the online community like Exhuma, or as easy to watch as Kung Fu Panda 4.
According to Mr. Khanh Duong, the weekend revenue of 1.8 billion VND of Sand Land 2 is much lower than that of Exhuma and Kung Fu Panda 4, which is understandable. “It's hard to compare Tomb of the Worms or Kung Fu Panda with Dune 2. Because according to statistics, Land of Sand 2's sales mostly come from IMAX screens, the rest of the screens are not too high,” Mr. Khanh Duong added.
Burying the grave with ghosts and ghosts, Vietnamese movie
While three foreign films topped the Vietnamese box office last week, domestic productions had flat revenues. This is a contrasting phenomenon compared to February, during the Lunar New Year, when the film Mai overwhelmed the box office compared to foreign works.
Last week, Bright Lights was a movie that was expected to return for many days (after nearly two months of leaving theaters during the Tet movie season). However, director Hoang Tuan Cuong's work was not as successful as expected. At the end of the week, the movie grossed about 1 billion VND, even far behind Dune 2, which came out a long time ago.
At the time of withdrawal from theaters, the work with the theme of a Western touring troupe was commented to carry a positive message, honoring Cai Luong art, which made the audience regret it.
But as previously shared by film critic Nguyen Phong Viet, Bright Lights has a cast of veteran actors such as People's Artist Hong Van, Meritorious Artist Huu Chau, veteran singer of Cai Luong theater Chi Tam, but in fact the content is not suitable for the tastes of audiences nationwide.
Meritorious Artist Huu Chau in Bright Lights.
When withdrawing from the theater, Mr. Nguyen Khanh Duong commented that director Hoang Tuan Cuong and the producer were forced to withdraw from the theater because the screenings were too small and could not compete with the movie Mai that almost monopolized the Tet screenings. .
“After withdrawing from the Tet film race, Super Trickster Meets Super Mud made a spectacular comeback and earned more than 100 billion VND. The first screenings of Bright Lights also received sympathy from the audience. Hopefully the producer has a fight reasonable theatrical release strategy so that the film can reach a large number of viewers,” Mr. Nguyen Khanh Duong told Tien Phong in February.
Currently, Bright Lamp's return date is not as “bright” as planned. However, the director's film must return to theaters by the end of March, otherwise there will be no suitable opportunity to return.
“Choosing this time to release in theaters is reasonable. If we leave it until the end of April, the movie will clash with Flip 7 – a movie with a strong brand, which will be more difficult,” Mr. Nguyen Khanh Duong told Tien Wind.
Regarding the situation of Bright Lights clashing with foreign films and being knocked down, Mr. Nguyen Khanh Duong said that Exhuma and Kungfu Panda 4 are showing convincing appeal, so the pressure on screenings for Bright Lights is huge.
“I think Bright Lights will leave theaters with a revenue of less than 4 billion VND, unless there is a big media push, but that is very unlikely,” Mr. Nguyen Khanh Duong added.
Another Vietnamese film that was almost ignored by the audience was The Heiress 2. Director Hoang Duy's work was commented on for having old content, the acting of Trang Nhung and two new recruits Quyen Qui and Thanh Tram was not enough. keep audiences coming to theaters.
Bold scene in The Heiress 2.
Lady Heiress 2 was completely knocked down when she only collected about 40 million VND in three weekends, unable to enter the top 10 of Box Office Vietnam. Currently, the film has a total revenue of nearly 7 billion VND.
Another movie that is considered a special case at the Vietnamese box office is called Many Humans. This is a work from France but directed by Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung.
Before it premiered in Vietnam, “Voice of the World” was a blockbuster at the Cannes Film Festival. The work is set in the 19th century, revolves around the love story of a famous writer and a woman in the kitchen, integrating dishes and customs that received a rain of compliments at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
When it premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, the film received a 7-minute round of applause and helped director Tran Anh Hung receive the Best Director award.
But similar to the fate of many highly appreciated works in Cannes, “Voice of the World” did not make an impression in Vietnamese theaters. During the three-day weekend, the film earned 900 million VND, but struggled to earn 1 billion VND.
“Regarding Mankind, I think films that are highly rated at Cannes do not have much meaning when competing at the Vietnamese box office. Almost all films that win Cannes awards do not have good box office results in Vietnam, Anatomy of a Fall (Vietnamese title: The case on the snowy hill) is an example, leaving the theater with about 700 million VND,” said Mr. Nguyen Khanh Duong.
Films directed by Tran Anh Hung have difficulty reaching the mass audience.
All human beings have their own audience, certainly not aimed at a mass audience in Vietnam. Therefore, it is difficult to evaluate the appeal of director Tran Anh Hung's film based on box office results.
Outside of the Vietnamese movie “game” in March, Mai collected 929 million VND on the weekend. The work that “stormed” Vietnamese theaters during the Tet season is about to leave theaters, with a total revenue of more than 520 billion VND (the producer has not updated the revenue currently shown in the US and Europe).