Major South Korean exhibitor Lotte Cinema is opening two new sites with eight screens in Vietnam this week, bringing its total to 111 screens in the territory.

One site with four screens and 483 seats opened today (April 27) in Ho Chi Minh City’s Now Zone shopping centre. Lotte will open another four-screen site with 601 seats in Hanoi’s Big-C Mart on Friday.

The company stated it was “happy to be opening two cinemas one after the other in Vietnam” and that it is planning to spur itself on to “expand cinemas throughout all of Vietnam”.

Lotte estimates the Vietnamese box office has grown four times its size since it first launched into the territory – from $25m in 2008 to $50m in 2012 to $100m last year.

Lotte Cinema initially entered the Vietnamese market in 2008 by acquiring Diamond Cinema Joint Venture Company (DMC) and has since opened multiplexes in major cities such as Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi and Danang. The company said it carries out “strict market research” to find cities with high growth potential.

The cinemas put emphasis on design, concessions and aim for a synergy effect by going in with its conglomerate affiliates such as fast food chain Lotteria, big box store Lotte Mart, Lotte Department Store and duty free shops.

Lotte Cinema also has 11 sites with a total of 90 screens in mainland China as of February this year.

South Korean rival exhibitor CJ CGV also has 32 sites in Vietnam, along with 19 in Indonesia, 64 in China, four in Myanmar and one in the US.

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