While modern cinemas are overloaded, many old movie theatres in the capital are quiet owing to outdated facilities. Some have urgently repaired their projection rooms but they still can’t lure viewers.

The market has fundamentally changed since MegaStar Hanoi opened in April 2006.

The market has fundamentally changed since MegaStar Hanoi opened in April 2006. Box offices began taking part in a fierce battle to attract audiences.

With pay-TV booming in Vietnam, movies are available on many TV channels and this has changed people’s attitude towards entertainment services.

Most viewers share the idea: If they want to watch a movie at a cinema, they will go to a modern cinema that has state-of-the-art visual and audio equipment, with premium accompanying services. And only new, modern box offices can satisfy this requirement.

The price for tickets at MegaStar Hanoi is often double that of other cinemas in Hanoi but at weekends or holidays, its eight projection rooms are always full. MegaStar Hanoi had to build two more rooms, raising its capacity to 1,400 seats.

The National Cinema Centre, a state-owned firm, in late 2008 upgraded its facilities to compete with MegaStar Hanoi.

The centre’s director, Nguyen Danh Duong, said that they carefully researched the models of modern private box offices like MegaStar and Galaxy before upgrading the National Cinema Centre into a theatre, game centre and shopping mall complex.

The number of people going to the National Cinema Centre has increased by 200% during the holidays and 150% on weekdays since the new facilities were put into operation.

The centre is about to open its fifth projection room and upgrade other rooms before it opens a special-effects projection office in early 2010. This shows the level of change required to compete with the likes of Megastar.

But this is the case of a big state-owned cinema centre; small state-owned box offices in Hanoi are in dire straits.

Outside of Dan Chu Cinema 1, which has a stable number of viewers, the remaining cinemas are in crisis. A famous cinema in the past, Thang Tam (August) box office doesn’t have capital to modernise its facilities and while it is seeking capital, its faithful have moved on to modern cinemas. They didn’t want to sit in hard, old chairs to watch films while rats run across their feet anymore.

Thang Tam wants to upgrade after the model of MegaStar and the National Cinema Centre but its area is too narrow. However, the Hanoi Cinema Company, the owner of Thang Tam, decided to replace 1,000 old chairs with new ones and upgrade the lobby.

After upgrading this cinema, the company will repair other small box offices like Dang Dung and Bach Mai, which are attracting virtually no one at present.

But even when these box offices are upgraded, it will still be difficult for them to compete with the massive modern cinema, entertainment centre and shopping mall complexes.

Bich Hanh