Galaxy Studio

Overview

Galaxy Studio is a Ho Chi Minh City-based Vietnamese film production and distribution company. Founded in 2003, it operates as part of Galaxy Entertainment Holding, which encompasses Galaxy Production (film production), Galaxy Studio (distribution), Galaxy Cinema (theater chain with 25+ complexes), Galaxy Play (streaming platform), and Galaxy Education (online learning). The company is headquartered at 63A Vo Van Tan, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, employs 57 people, and reports annual revenue of $30.5 million. Executive Chair Dinh Thanh Huong leads the company and has publicly outlined plans for a potential IPO in 2026 to 2027.

Galaxy Studio is the Vietnamese theatrical partner of Sony Pictures, handling local distribution of Sony titles alongside its own Vietnamese productions and acquisitions from other international studios. The company operates more than 30 cinema complexes nationwide, concentrated in Ho Chi Minh City and southern Vietnam. After four consecutive years of hundreds of billions of VND in losses, Galaxy Entertainment Holding returned to profitability in 2025 with over 40 billion VND in profit.

Vietnamese Box Office Performance

Vietnam's theatrical market posted gross box office revenue exceeding $215 million in 2025, a 22.5% year-on-year increase, on sales of more than 70 million tickets. Vietnamese films held a 62.2% market share in 2025, up from 42.6% in 2023. In the first five months of 2026, that share surged to 70.6%, according to figures presented by Dinh Thanh Huong at the inaugural DANAFF Industry Days in Danang. The market released 47 Vietnamese titles in 2025, up from 26 in 2024, with projections reaching 80 titles by 2027.

Galaxy Studio dominates this growth. The company's 2025 releases include Red Rain (August 2025), a war epic that became the highest-grossing Vietnamese film of all time with $27 million at the domestic box office and 714 billion VND in revenue. The 4 Rascals (January 2025) opened to $4.9 million on its way to $13 million total. Detective Kien: The Headless Horror (April 2025) grossed $9.5 million, demonstrating audience appetite for genre films beyond comedy and family entertainment.

In 2026, Bunny!! (February 2026, Lunar New Year release) opened to $4.7 million and reached $16.5 million, making it one of the top 5 highest-grossing Vietnamese films ever. The film crossed $1 million internationally in its opening week, expanding to Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan.

Production and Budget Growth

Production budgets in Vietnam are rising rapidly. Where major local projects carried budgets of VND 40 to 50 billion ($1.52 to $1.9 million) in 2023, the market is now seeing productions budgeted at VND 100 to 130 billion ($3.8 to $4.9 million) and above. Dinh Thanh Huong projects that production, distribution, and marketing budgets will exceed $5 million per film in the near term, with total Vietnamese film output reaching 80 titles by 2027.

Galaxy Studio's productions span romantic comedies, action films, horror, historical war epics, and detective thrillers. The company has moved beyond Vietnam's historic reliance on comedy and family films, with recent commercial successes in war (Red Rain), action, historical, and detective genres (Detective Kien) alongside the country's established strength in horror.

Sony Pictures Partnership

Galaxy Studio serves as the Vietnamese theatrical distributor for Sony Pictures releases. This partnership means Galaxy handles local marketing, dubbing or subtitling into Vietnamese, and theatrical booking for Sony titles including major franchise films. The company also distributes titles from other international studios, as evidenced by its 2026 release slate including Avatar: Fire and Ash, Zootopia 2, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and Return to Silent Hill.

What Filmmakers Should Know

For international filmmakers seeking Vietnamese theatrical distribution, Galaxy Studio is the primary commercial contact. Vietnam's relatively young, urban, cinema-going population makes it an increasingly important Southeast Asian market. 69% of Vietnamese moviegoers are Gen Z, and 72.8% of tickets are now purchased through digital platforms, with word-of-mouth increasingly determining whether a title succeeds or fails. Language localization (dubbing or subtitling into Vietnamese) is typically required for mainstream releases.

For Vietnamese filmmakers with international arthouse ambitions, the country's growing presence at international festivals provides pathways to global distribution. The inaugural DANAFF Industry Days in Danang (June 30 to July 1, 2026) brought together Vietnamese studios including Galaxy Studio with international distributors and buyers from South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan, and the US. Galaxy has publicly outlined five areas for international partnership: co-production, financial investment, distribution and marketing, technology and innovation, and intellectual property development.

The Tet holiday period (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) is the most commercially significant theatrical window in Vietnam, analogous to the Chinese New Year box office in the broader East Asian market. Major local productions and international blockbusters compete for this peak attendance period, with domestic films often performing particularly strongly.

Notable Releases

Galaxy Studio's major releases include Red Rain (2025, $27 million domestic, all-time Vietnamese box office record), Bunny!! (2026, $16.5 million and counting), The 4 Rascals (2025, $13 million), Detective Kien: The Headless Horror (2025, $9.5 million), Dreamy Eyes, and You and Trinh. The company also distributed international titles including Avatar: Fire and Ash ($10.9 million in Vietnam), Zootopia 2, and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple in 2026.

Recommended Resources for Filmmakers

• The Insider's Guide to Independent Film Distribution - Stacey Parks' definitive guide to independent film distribution, covering sales agents, markets, and deal structures. Available on Amazon.
• Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul - A practical handbook on self-distribution, hybrid strategies, and building direct audience relationships for independent filmmakers. Available on Amazon.
• The Business of Film - A comprehensive reference on film industry economics, covering distribution deals, revenue streams, and market trends. Available on Amazon.

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See Also

For regional Southeast Asian distribution context, see Shaw Organisation in this directory. For the Busan International Film Festival as the primary discovery platform for Southeast Asian arthouse cinema, see the Film Festivals Directory. To model the revenue contribution of Vietnamese theatrical rights in an international sales projection, use the Revenue Forecast Calculator. For how international distribution partnerships work with major studios, see Distribution Deals Explained.