Vietnamese films failed to attract more viewers than foreign movies at local cinemas during the holiday period.

Cinema goers queued at BHD 3-2 cinema on a Tet Holiday

A representative from CJ CGV Vietnam who manages 40% of cinemas in the country, revealed that Vin Diesel's latest new movie xXx Return of Xander Cage attracted the biggest audience this Tet holiday, followed by Stephen Chow's Journey To The West 2.

However, Vietnamese film - Nang Tien Co 5 Nha made the list of the top three films best box office performers, CJ CGV Vietnam reported.

Lottecinema Vietnam also reported the same situation.

"There are four Vietnamese and three foreign new films premiered during the Lunar New Year holiday besides some others which have been screening since Christmas but we only saw tickets for xXx Return of Xander Cage and Journey To The West 2 sell out, few people watched the domestic films," said a representative from Lottecinema Vietnam who added that this is a similar situation last Tet.

Ella Nguyen, 22, in HCM City said that she had really enjoyed Journey To The West and wanted to see the sequel.

"Some of my friends told me that xXx Return of Xander Cage was also good so I watched it too," Nguyen said. "I don't like Vietnamese films screened this time because I know most of them are boring comedies."

Tam Phuc, 50, from Hanoi also said that she had hated Vietnamese comedy Hello Miss Ba last Lunar New Year so she didn't want to watch any Vietnamese film this holiday.

"I came to the cinema twice this Tet holiday," Phuc said. "And I chose to see Why Him and xXx Return of Xander Cage."

Movie ratings still a problem at local cinemas

Besides quality concerns, ratings were also blamed as another reason for the poor performance of three Vietnamese movies screened during this Lunar New Year holiday being unable to draw more moviegoers.

According to Poly Communications which is responsible for marketing the film Luc Van Tien: Tuyet Dinh Kungfu, the movie was licensed as a PG-13 but many cinemas mistakenly rated it PG-16.

“We only noticed the mistake after it had been released for three days,” director of Poly Communications Company, Phi Long, said.

Long also complained that the movie Journey To The West 2 contained many violent scenes but was rated G at local cinemas.

"I know that Journey To The West 2 was rated PG-13 in the US and some other countries but I don't know why it is screened for all ages in Vietnam," he said.

Dtinews