Korean Films Are Now Being Made in Vietnam — Here's What It Means for Southeast Asia (2026)

If you follow K-dramas and Korean films, you already know the Hallyu wave has reached every corner of Southeast Asia. What you might not know yet: Korean content is increasingly being made here, too. And where it's being made — and why — tells you a lot about where the Korean entertainment industry is heading next.

In late 2025, Seoul-based venture capital firm Crit Ventures committed funding to two Korean-language feature films planned and produced in Vietnam. Korean cast. Korean directors. But filming locations and roughly half the production budget sourced from Vietnam. The firm's read on the deal: "This isn't cost-cutting. It's market expansion."

Why Vietnam makes sense right now

The economics are hard to argue with. As of 2023, film production costs in Vietnam run at roughly 40–55% of equivalent costs in South Korea. A cinema ticket in Vietnam averages around 120,000 VND — approximately USD $4.70, compared to roughly USD $9–11 in Korea. And the number of cinema screens across Vietnam has grown by 38% since 2020.

More important than the cost math is the audience math. Vietnam's urban 18–34 demographic — exactly the group driving K-content consumption across Southeast Asia — is expanding fast. Over the past three years, Vietnam has recorded the fastest growth in Korean content consumption of any Southeast Asian market. Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia rank as the top three Southeast Asian markets for Korean film box office, in that order.

There's also a regulatory advantage. Incorporating local Vietnamese talent or filming locations can help productions work around Vietnam's foreign film quota restrictions — giving Korean studios cleaner access to local distribution pipelines. One production structure, three problems solved: cost, distribution, and regulation.

This is a structural shift, not a one-off bet

Crit Ventures is a Korean early-stage venture capital firm focused on content, entertainment, and media — investing in both film and drama IP as well as related technology startups. Their Vietnam play reflects something much larger moving through the Korean production industry.

As global OTT platforms accelerate investment in Southeast Asian originals, Korean production companies are pivoting away from the old playbook — make it in Korea, then export — toward a newer model: build it locally, sell it locally. The Crit Ventures investment is one of the cleaner early signals that this pivot is turning into committed capital, not just strategy decks.

The same logic is visible in Busan. The Busan Creative Economy Innovation Center recently confirmed the 12th cohort for its B.Cube accelerator program. Busan sits at the crossroads of Korea–Japan–Southeast Asia shipping routes and is increasingly becoming a test bed for content and tourism startups targeting regional markets. B.Cube companies get more than desk space — they gain priority access to Busan city procurement networks and buyer connections, a genuine lever for early-stage startups targeting Southeast Asian export. The industries B.Cube's 12th cohort focuses on will be a useful signal of how fast Busan is completing its shift from manufacturing hub to content and services platform.

What this means if you're a Southeast Asian business or investor

For anyone working in media, distribution, IP licensing, brand partnerships, or Korean content monetization across Southeast Asia, this trend deserves close attention. The Korean content industry is moving past "Made in Korea" as a standalone value proposition — it's building production infrastructure where its audience actually lives.

That means local partnerships, venue access, talent networks, and distribution relationships in Southeast Asia are becoming competitive advantages. As production geography spreads across the region, the players who control local access gain real leverage in deal-making.

One critical note: copyright law and content rating classifications across Southeast Asia — including Vietnam — differ significantly from Korean standards. Productions that skip legal due diligence upfront risk being blocked at the distribution stage. Any business involved in co-production or IP licensing in this space should build legal review into the process before creative work begins, not after.

Key numbers at a glance

• Vietnam production cost vs. Korea: 40–55% lower
• Average Vietnam cinema ticket: ~USD $4.70 (approx. SGD $6.30) vs. ~USD $9–11 in Korea
• Vietnam cinema screen growth since 2020: +38%
• Top 3 Southeast Asian markets for Korean films: Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia
• Vietnam K-content consumption growth: fastest in Southeast Asia over the past 3 years