After the Lunar New Year, the holidays of April 30 and May 1 are considered the next money-making season for filmmakers. This year, theaters witnessed the arrival of many foreign films, while the number of Vietnamese films was small.
In there, Flip 7: One wish by Ly Hai and The price of happiness – starring Thai Hoa – are notable projects, expected to revive Vietnamese film revenue after a long period of losses.
Thai Hoa continued to clash with Ly Hai
Last year, Thai Hoa and Ly Hai had a confrontation movie on the holidays of April 30 and May 1. The results were quite positive when Flip 6: Fateful ticket – Directed by Ly Hai – created a fever with more than 273 billion VND at the box office, currently ranked fourth in the list of most popular Vietnamese films of all time.
Despite being inferior, The Little Girl Gleans Her Husband – Thai Hoa plays the main character – still has positive revenue reaching more than 76 billion VND.
This year, Thai Hoa and Ly Hai continue to be the names that attract the audience’s attention. Among them, project The price of happiness has attracted attention since the release date was finalized.
Thai Hoa is a helping factor The price of happiness get the audience’s attention.
One month before the release date, the director suddenly announced that the film’s release date would be postponed a week earlier – April 19 instead of April 26 as previously scheduled. According to the crew, the decision was made to avoid direct confrontation with Turn over 7 by Ly Hai – also released on April 26.
In fact, the rescheduling does not affect the outcome of the match between the two films too much. However, showing it a week early helps The price of happiness have more opportunities to get closer to the audience because they do not have to compete with strong competitors.
When released, Thai Hoa’s film quickly surpassed blockbusters Godzilla x Kong: New Empire to top the rankings of Box Office Vietnam (independent box office monitoring unit).
The work reached more than 10.4 billion VND in the first three days, currently with a total revenue of more than 19 billion VND. This achievement is not too big but shows that Thai Hoa is still an attractive name, guaranteeing the success of the work.
However, the project created a stream of debate about quality. Although Thai Hoa’s acting is still impressive, the film’s script is not developed firmly, many details are forced and unconvincing. The acting of the young actors is also lackluster, not leaving much of an impression.
Thai Hoa’s performance in the film was highly appreciated but the script was limited.
Ly Hai’s ability to create a new fever
Meanwhile, Flip 7: One wish awaited since production announcement. The crew also has a lot of experience working on previous parts, so they applied an aggressive communication strategy from casting until the day of filming.
Up to now, Flip face is the most popular brand in the history of Vietnamese cinema, with total revenue of more than 700 billion VND. After eight years, Ly Hai has also affirmed his name in the profession, being one of the filmmakers who is popular with the country’s audience.
Before that, Ly Hai had many changes in filmmaking style through parts Flip face to create something new for the audience. For example, Flip 3: Three guys are missing (2018) chooses a good comedy-horror style Flip face: 48 hours Focus on the action with many breathtaking chase scenes.
Most recently, Ly Hai chose a sensational style, inserting many twists to steer the story Flip 6: Fateful ticket, thereby bringing many surprises to viewers. That is also the reason why the project causes fever and achieves high revenue.
This year, Ly Hai once again decided to change his style Flip 7: One wish. He boldly removed the action, comedy or sensational elements that once helped the brand Flip face successfully move to a completely new direction.
The film’s content is simple, telling about Mrs. Hai (Thanh Hien) – an elderly woman with 5 children. When each person becomes an adult, it is time for them to face their own difficulties in life, and then no longer have time to care for their elderly mother.
Image in Flip 7: One wish Directed by Ly Hai.
One day, Mrs. Hai had an accident and had to use a wheelchair, making all her children worried. Sadly, there was no one capable of taking care of her mother when she was sick.
According to the crew, the film will intertwine two story lines: One tells about Mrs. Hai when she was young, the other explores the difficulties the family is facing at present.
The story has a bit of a family romance, reminiscent of some works such as Godfather nice Mrs. Nu’s house. If the script is uncertain or Ly Hai does not handle it skillfully, it is likely that the work will have difficulty reaching viewers, especially demanding audiences.
Anyway, the appearance of Ly Hai and Thai Hoa also helped the Vietnamese film market become vibrant again after a long time of being surpassed by foreign films, with works that suffered heavy losses such as Lady heiress 2 nice Fragile flower.
The duel did not cause either side to suffer, but created an opportunity for both films to get closer to the audience.
However, the small number of films released in theaters this year also shows that Vietnamese cinema is quite unstable. Audiences need more good works to enjoy in theaters, instead of having to rely on familiar names like Ly Hai or Thai Hoa.
Minh Nhat
