Breaking the 2-pole situation of Tran Thanh, Ly Hai and the fluctuations in the Vietnamese film market in 2025

Ly Hai and Tran Thanh are considered "powers" in the Vietnamese film market. Photo: Producer

Fluctuations

Perhaps, even the most optimistic person could not imagine that the Vietnamese film market in 2025 would have so many remarkable changes.

By 2022, Vietnamese films are still losing money. Up to the first 9 months of 2022, there were about 20 Vietnamese films released in theaters, mostly at a loss, only "Em va Trinh" earned hundreds of billions in revenue, the rest of the films had incredibly dismal revenue, only a few hundred million VND.

In 2024, with the formula, "Tran Thanh, Ly Hai and the rest", the movie "Mai" with revenue of 550 billion VND, "Lat mat 7" reached 482 billion VND - the total revenue of the 2 movies accounted for more than half of the revenue of all Vietnamese movies released in theaters in 2024 (1,900 billion VND).

In that context, when the cultural industry is discussing plans to develop the film industry, considering film as the spearhead of the cultural industry - still not many people are optimistic.

Experts predict that it will be very difficult to break the duopoly of Tran Thanh and Ly Hai. Vietnamese film revenue depends on these two “giants”.

The year 2025 has come in an unexpected way. Up to the first 9 months of the year, 12 Vietnamese films have grossed over 100 billion VND, the revenue of Vietnamese films according to Box Office is now over 3,000 billion VND, expected to reach 4,000 billion VND by the end of the year (while in 2024 it was 1,900 billion VND, in 2023 it was 1,563 billion VND).

The top of the box office is no longer Tran Thanh and Ly Hai. The film that holds the “record of all records” is “Red Rain” of the People’s Army Cinema with nearly 714 billion VND. The director that is being chosen by “box office history” is female director Dang Thai Huyen.

“Red Rain” makes history at the box office in 2025. Photo: Producer

Director Ly Hai's "Flip Side 8" with a revenue of 231 billion VND is currently behind many names such as "The Four Guardians" (332 billion VND), "Detective Kien" (248 billion VND), "Ancestral House" (242 billion VND)...

Currently, with its "sweeping" power at the box office, "Fighting in the Sky" by People's Police Cinema is predicted to reach the revenue target of 300 billion VND, approaching Tran Thanh's "The Four Guardians", surpassing Ly Hai.

In 2025, witnessing the spectacular usurpation of the state-owned film studios, the People's Army Cinema and the People's Police Cinema, when releasing their "blockbusters", received a shower of compliments for their scripts, investments, and production direction. They created a new "force" at the box office.

Among them, "Red Rain" of the People's Army Cinema has broken the records - which seemed like they would take a long time to break - of Tran Thanh's films.

Expected

Critic Le Hong Lam assessed that the Vietnamese film market in 2025 will have unpredictable turns. Just a few years ago, there were still "sarcastic" opinions about the quality of Vietnamese films, but by 2025, it has shown how "Vietnamese people watch Vietnamese films" has become a trend.

Domestic films are being supported by audiences more than ever.

On August 28, audiences flocked to the theaters to watch the last screenings of “Red Rain,” helping the film continue to generate revenue of more than 4 billion VND/day even though the film had been in theaters for more than a month.

“Death Battle in the Air” is a collaboration between People’s Public Security Cinema and the private sector. Photo: Producer

On movie forums, many viewers expressed that they had gone to see "Red Rain" dozens of times, with friends and family.

Since the beginning of the year, Vietnamese films have repeatedly “beaten” foreign blockbusters at the box office. Currently, “Fight to the Death” is completely overwhelming Leonardo DiCaprio’s critically acclaimed work – “Battle After Battle”.

The rise of Vietnamese films in terms of script, production, and acting, from “Tunnels”, to “Red Rain”, “Fighting in the Sky”… is attracting audiences to the cinema to support Vietnamese films. Rising stars, scripts with new themes… are drawing Vietnamese audiences into topics and forums for heated debates about Vietnamese films.

Although there are still disaster movies, and the gap between quality movies and bad movies is still very large, experts still hope that Vietnamese movies will make further progress and have a more interesting "turn" in 2026.

The film industry will remain the spearhead of the cultural industry until 2030, with a vision to 2045.

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/pha-vo-the-2-cuc-tran-thanh-ly-hai-va-su-bien-dong-o-thi-truong-phim-viet-2025-3377929.html