Sports & Entertainment » Entertainment
Movie theatre turf war wages in Vietnam
  • | VOV | March 12, 2017 08:37 AM
The decision in 1995 to open the cinema industry to foreigners started a new chapter in the Vietnamese movie theatre segment.

Following decades of control by state owned companies, foreign movie theatre chains entered the market, most notably those from the Republic of Korea, bringing fresh entertaining foreign films to audiences throughout the country.

 


CJ CGV, the largest movie theatre chain in the ROK, which has branches in China, Vietnam and the US has been the most successful in terms of audiences, concession revenue and box office receipts.

CJ CGV took over the failed MegaStar in 2011 and began modernizing its 13 outdated movie theatres with forward thinking innovative business strategies to invest and expand nationally.

In just a few short years CJ CGV has grown to now control a 40% share of the movie theatre segment with gross revenue of US$80 million, which is still relatively small when compared to the potential for the industry.

CJ CGV effectively carried out its business strategy to expand and now owns 38 movie theatres throughout Vietnam.

Lotte Cinema with 29 cinemas across the country, the biggest rival of CJ CGV, holds a 30% share of the market.

In 2008 Lotte acquired Diamond Cinema Joint Venture Co, a Korea-owned circuit owning a controlling interest in six movie theatres in Ho Chi Minh City and Danang.

All told, the movie theatre segment is controlled by five dominant players that hold 98% of the market. They include CJ CGV (43%), Lotte (30%), Platinum (10%), Galaxy (9%) and BHD (6%).

In late February 2017, the Platinum movie theatre chain announced its contract with Vincom Retail had been terminated early and closed three theatres located at the Vincom Mega Mall Royal City, Vincom Mega Mall Times City, and Vincom Plaza Long Bien.

The Platinum chain is based out of Indonesia and has a presence in many countries including Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Cambodia, and Myanmar.

It first began operations in Vietnam in January 2011, and up until recently Platinum had opened a total of five theatres in Vietnam. After the closure of its three Vincom locations, Platinum has only two theatres in Hanoi remaining.

According to Vincom representatives, as published in the Vietnam Investment Review, the contract with Platinum was terminated early due to their dissatisfaction with the quality of the service of Platinum.

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