Entering Q1/2025, Vietnam’s film industry has seen interesting shifts as local films dominated the market, creating a lively race both at the box office and on social media. Beyond the numbers, each film’s appeal also comes from content and genres that match audience “taste.”

1. Data overview: “Bộ Tứ Báo Thủ” dominates discussion volume

With more than 7.1 million mentions and 85.8 million interactions, “Bộ Tứ Báo Thủ” became the film with the largest social media reach, followed by “Nụ Hôn Bạc Tỷ” with 4.1 million mentions. Despite a later release, “Nhà Gia Tiên” stood out by attracting more than 3.7 million mentions. Meanwhile, “Đèn Âm Hồn,” also a debut work by director Hoàng Nam, recorded 2 million discussions with strong momentum in its first release week.

2. Film content – still the key factor creating appeal

The combination of horror, comedy, and family tradition helped Nhà Gia Tiên touch deep emotions among Vietnamese audiences. This was also the film with the highest NSR, reaching 84%, showing that audiences rated it very positively and expressed strong favorability. Weaving the theme of “preserving traditional values” into a modern setting, together with light entertainment elements, helped the film resonate with both Gen Y and Gen Z.

With a gentle, romantic love story about a bánh mì-selling girl and two young men, Nụ Hôn Bạc Tỷ generated an emotional effect of 75%. Ma Ran Đô’s line “I’ll give you 4 billion” became viral social slang and sparked trends on TikTok and Facebook.

The young couple’s love story in Bộ Tứ Báo Thủ combined with comedic moments from the quartet Trấn Thành, Lê Giang, Lê Dương Bảo Lâm, and Uyển Ân quickly became a social media talking point throughout the Lunar New Year season. The line “Don’t you have a dream...?” became a viral trend across platforms. However, despite leading in discussion volume, the film received mixed feedback on content, reflected in a sentiment score of only 63%. Many debates erupted around the film being too “lightweight” and lacking the emotional depth of Trấn Thành’s previous works. High public expectations left many viewers disappointed.

Drawing on a horror motif inspired by The Story of the Nam Xương Woman, Đèn Âm Hồn delivered a chilling experience combined with distinctly Vietnamese spiritual elements. Although total discussion volume was modest, the film performed strongly in its opening week, showing that horror with folk material also has special appeal to the community.

3. Understanding the audience – The secret to matching taste and optimizing communication impact

Analysis of participant data shows women were the dominant discussion group, accounting for 60–73% across all films. Films with romance and family elements such as Nhà Gia Tiên (73% female) and Nụ Hôn Bạc Tỷ (70% female) show a clear link between film content and participant profile: when films explore familiar themes, emotion, and traditional culture, women are more likely to empathize and drive broader, deeper discussion.

Nhà Gia Tiên recorded the highest Gen Z discussion participation among the four films (44%). This indicates a clear trend shift: Gen Z—often known for preferring modern, fast, visual content—is now willing to embrace works exploring traditional values when presented through a youthful, creative lens.

Đèn Âm Hồn was the only one of the four films where male discussion participation was dominant (52%). This reflects a characteristic of the horror-thriller genre, which naturally appeals to men, amplified by the personal brand of director Hoàng Nam—the creator behind the famous YouTube channel Challenge Me – Hãy Thách Thức Tôi, known for adventure content exploring mysterious locations. The film also recorded the highest Gen Y participation rate (70%), an audience long familiar with horror-exploration content since Challenge Me – Hãy Thách Thức Tôi rose strongly on YouTube.

Audience segments play a key role in shaping each film’s appeal and content direction. Gen Z is emerging as a discussion-driving force interested in traditional values and national culture, especially when these elements are refreshed in a youthful, relatable style on screen, as Nhà Gia Tiên did. Romance-family films, though familiar, can still win affection and spread if they offer fresh perspectives, keep pace with real social issues, and include just enough humor and charm. By contrast, horror clearly attracts men and Gen Y. Gen Y is also a core audience segment for films featuring iconic faces tied to their generation, such as Trấn Thành (Bộ Tứ Báo Thủ) or Hoàng Nam (Đèn Âm Hồn).

4. Discussion trend: Content that keeps pace with trends sustains conversation

Analysis of discussion behavior by stage (Teasing, Trailer, Release, Post-release) shows very different spread patterns among the films.

Among the four films, Nhà Gia Tiên stood out with sustainable discussion and positive sentiment. Although its Teasing and Trailer phases were not overly noisy, it surprised the market by exploding on release day with more than 330 thousand mentions. Nhà Gia Tiên was especially different in its ability to maintain discussion after release, largely driven by audience empathy with family cultural elements and storytelling that was both humorous and touching. This combination helped the film achieve the highest positive sentiment index (NSR) at 84%, affirming its position as a work favored by both Gen Y and Gen Z.

Meanwhile, Nụ Hôn Bạc Tỷ followed the romantic genre and recorded steady spread from Teasing through Post-release. The film’s appeal came from its gentle content, trend-catching lines, and especially the visuals and aura of its two male leads that captivated online communities, helping discussion remain strong after release. However, compared with Nhà Gia Tiên, the discussion curve of Nụ Hôn Bạc Tỷ was stable but did not create a strong emotional breakthrough.

In contrast, Bộ Tứ Báo Thủ showed massive spread appeal, leading discussion volume from Teasing with more than 490 thousand mentions and peaking at 2.4 million in the first release week. Even so, most later discussions centered on controversy over “lightweight” content and a lack of depth versus expectations, plus noisy dialogue, leaving the film’s favorability score at 63%. The film generated a viral effect, but positive sentiment did not sustain over time.

Đèn Âm Hồn showed a clear horror-film pattern by surging suddenly during the Release phase with over 1 million discussions. Most discussions in this period revolved around film quality, especially comparisons with Bộ Tứ Báo Thủ and Nụ Hôn Bạc Tỷ. However, after just one week in theaters, discussion volume dropped significantly because the film did not meet many viewers’ expectations. Many opinions said the work had several stiff acting scenes, and casting Southern actors in a film deeply rooted in Northern setting and culture created a tonal mismatch. Although the film received positive notes for using folk-cultural elements such as spirit-calling and exorcism rituals to enhance eeriness, that was still not enough to offset the general perception of only average quality.

These discussion-trend analyses show that films with content that truly connects with audience emotions and tastes will create sustainable, long-term conversation. Conversely, films that spark curiosity through brand factors or specific genres like horror may easily create early discussion spikes, but if content fails to meet expectations, discussions cool down.

Communication lessons distilled from the competition among 4 Vietnamese films in early 2025

1. Early virality is not enough; content investment is essential

“Bộ Tứ Báo Thủ” and “Đèn Âm Hồn” spread quickly, but because they did not meet audience content expectations, their sentiment indexes and discussion volumes declined. “Nhà Gia Tiên”, although not an early breakout, achieved a high sentiment index and maintained stable discussion thanks to content that used traditional cultural material in a youthful style close to young audiences, especially Gen Z. Even without a strong explosion in the Teasing phase, the film made an impact at release and sustained stable heat afterward thanks to positive emotions and deep audience empathy with family values and national identity. The highest positive sentiment index (NSR) among the films—84%—shows that “cultural storytelling” is becoming increasingly popular material.

2. Multi-stage communication – “distribute effort across all stages”
Do not concentrate resources only on Teasing or Release; instead, design a seamless communication plan that “tells the story” early through teaser and trailer, and especially maintains post-release discussion.

3. Strong dialogue – also capable of creating trends and shaking social media

Social slang and social trends have become an indispensable part of young people’s digital life. This opens opportunities for Vietnamese films to go more viral when audiences not only feel the story but also “love” memorable lines and reuse them in memes, edited images, cover videos, or comments outside theaters. The more “trending lines” a film has, the faster it can spread, especially on TikTok. Lines like “I’ll give you 4 billion” from Nụ Hôn Bạc Tỷ or “Don’t you have a dream...?” from Bộ Tứ Báo Thủ not only helped characters leave a mark but also quickly became viral content.

The early-2025 Vietnamese film discussion race: A journey from viral to sustainable

The discussion race among four Vietnamese films in early 2025 not only reflects social media heat but also shows the increasingly important role of content and audience understanding. Hitting the right emotions, grasping audience taste, and tracking behavioral trends are the “keys” for films not only to go viral temporarily but also to sustain long-term momentum.