Trại buôn người, an action and survival drama about human trafficking and cross-border scams, has overtaken director Lý Hải's Lật mặt 7: Một điều ước to become the third highest-grossing Vietnamese film of all time, behind only Mưa đỏ and Mai. One month into its run, the film had taken 484 billion dong according to Tuổi Trẻ, while VnExpress put it at 485 billion dong around midday on 26 October. Thanh Niên reported more than 484 billion dong and noted that it is also the biggest Vietnamese release of 2026 so far.
Vietnam's top three films
| Rank | Film | Director | Box office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mưa đỏ | Đặng Thái Huyền | 714 billion dong |
| 2 | Mai | Trấn Thành | 551 billion dong |
| 3 | Trại buôn người | Toni Dương Bảo Anh | More than 484 billion dong |
Table compiled by KBVN+ from Tuổi Trẻ, VnExpress and Thanh Niên.
A first film's month
The film opened on 25 September, outside any major holiday. Before passing Lật mặt 7 it had already overtaken Thỏ ơi, Trấn Thành's Lunar New Year release, to become the year's top Vietnamese film. VnExpress said Dương Bảo Anh now holds the record for the highest-grossing debut by a Vietnamese filmmaker.
The film was made by Bảo Anh with producer Mèo Bích Trang. It follows Ny (Steven Nguyễn), a young man from a poor Mekong Delta village who lets himself be taken into a compound to rescue his younger sister Út Đẹt (Huỳnh Minh Kiên), lured there with a friend by a cross-border fraud ring while looking for work. The cast also includes Quách Ngọc Ngoan, People's Artist Như Quỳnh, Tùng Mint and Khánh My.
According to VnExpress, the director spent five years preparing the project and developing the script, drawing on years of experience in Bollywood for the crowd scenes. For scenes of hundreds of victims locked inside the camp, the team received more than 1,500 casting applications, picked about 700 people and organised them into small groups with leaders. Bảo Anh thanked audiences for their affection and trust since opening day and called the film fortunate to have had such a journey.
The box office has not silenced the critics. Thanh Niên noted mixed opinions about the script, characterisation and some unconvincing plot turns, but said the topical subject of trafficking and online fraud has made it one of the year's notable Vietnamese films.
A lesson for the release calendar
According to VnExpress, a representative of Box Office Vietnam, an independent box-office tracker, said the film shows that the Lunar New Year holiday is no longer a guarantee of big takings, and that blockbusters do not have to open at Tết; Vietnamese filmmakers can be more selective about their release dates. Tuổi Trẻ made a similar point: a director's name is no longer the only deciding factor, and a newcomer can draw large audiences with a strong story and good word of mouth.
The film is now cooling off. In the weekend chart Tuổi Trẻ compiled from Box Office Vietnam data, Lê Hoàng's Án mạng karaoke took first place with a 32 billion dong opening and about 3,500 screenings a day. Trại buôn người came second with about 2,000 daily screenings, and Quỷ ăn tạng 4: Hổ tinh was third with 40 billion dong after 10 days. The Box Office Vietnam representative, cited by Thanh Niên, said Án mạng karaoke had ended Trại buôn người's run at the top.
What's next
Alongside the current T18 version (for viewers 18 and over), the team is editing a T13 cut aimed at secondary and high school students, a group especially vulnerable to scams on social media, VnExpress reported. Thanh Niên said attention now turns to whether the film can approach higher milestones, above all the 551 billion dong earned by Mai.
Tuổi Trẻ expects a livelier box office when Chị chị em em 3, starring Kỳ Duyên, Steven Nguyễn, Chi Pu and Ninh Dương Lan Ngọc, reaches cinemas. The Box Office Vietnam representative, cited by Thanh Niên, said Steven Nguyễn has the lead in three of the Vietnamese films due out before the end of the year, and described the stretch from the National Day holiday in early September to year-end as the busiest period for Vietnamese cinema, with a steady stream of releases and promotional cinema tours expected to continue through the Lunar New Year season.