‘Turn over 7’ still has ‘holes’, what does Ly Hai expect in terms of revenue?

“Face Off 7: One Wish” has script “holes”.

On the evening of April 25, Ly Hai and his crew made the movie “Face Off 7: A Wish” officially launched in Hanoi. Immediately after the film’s premiere, the male director and the cast appeared in the screening room to interact with the audience.

According to the male director, contrary to the previous parts, “Face Off 7: One Wish” does not have many entertainment elements such as action or horror but a gentle script inspired by his own mother. “Now, my mother is no longer as alert as before, but I hope she can understand what I want to convey,” Ly Hai confided.

The main character of the film is Mrs. Hai – who gives birth to 5 children but lives alone all year round. Unfortunately, she had an accident and was unable to walk, but her children almost refused to spend time taking care of her, making Mrs. Hai extremely sad. Finally, they discussed together and would divide each family a week to take care of their mother. However, they did not expect that, although a short week, it would make the bond in each family stronger thanks to their mother.

However, after the film had early screenings, “Face Off 7” also received some reviews saying that the film’s script had some details that were considered forced and unconvincing. Specifically, according to the movie script, upon hearing the news that his mother was missing, the eldest brother was immediately present at home. An audience member said that this detail was unreasonable because the character of the eldest brother in Hanoi, moving to Da Lat, needed a lot of time to be reasonable and create true emotions for the audience.

Responding to this opinion, Ly Hai quickly explained, affirming that he had carefully researched the travel routes of the characters in the film. Accordingly, the fact that the eldest brother was present first and almost immediately when he heard the news of his mother’s disappearance was not a “hole” in the script: “Second brother was in the capital, the flight to Da Lat took just over 2 hours. . As for the other characters in Ho Chi Minh City, it takes at least 6 hours to be there by bus. I have been very careful about the travel time of the characters.”

The male director also said that because he was originally a singer, in his films, the musical elements were also meticulously designed to evoke emotions in the audience. Specifically, Ly Hai did not use any lyrical music throughout the film, but mainly used instrumental music to express the character’s mood and situation: “In this story, I want the audience to absorb every detail. musical notes without words.

There are scenes where the mother is orphaned at home, the mother is helpless when she blows away her children’s painting… I don’t use music with lyrics but only a few piano sounds to make the audience feel the loneliness.

Another scene where I did not use music was the moment Mrs. Hai sat in the immortal flower garden, the scene changed from out of focus to gradually sharp. I once tried putting music on, but then I decided to leave it because I felt that I needed some quiet time here. That scene only has the image of an old mother with the sound of wind blowing, creating a deeper, more “sad” feeling than when adding music.”

Making a movie if you only think about revenue is “losing sleep”

Ly Hai has had a “bumper” at the box office with the “Face Off” series for nearly a decade: Turn 1 (72 billion VND), Turn 2 (80 billion VND), Turn 3 (85 billion VND), Turn Face 4 (120 billion VND), Face 5 (150 billion VND) and “Face 6: Ticket of destiny” will be launched in 2023 with revenue of more than 300 billion VND. Therefore, it is not surprising that the audience is curious to predict the revenue figure of “Turn over 7”.

As for Ly Hai, when asked about revenue expectations, the male director frankly said that making movies is hard, so if he only thinks about revenue, he will bring the stress home and will only “lose it.” Sleep”. According to him, the important thing is that the audience feels that their products get better over time and are invested carefully.

According to Ly Hai, a film he makes is worth over a hundred billion dong to break even, not to mention the amount of money shared with theaters and investors. Besides, convincing investors to spend money for him to make a film is not easy, because he cannot use their money indiscriminately.

“When we make a movie, we have to spend a lot of money on each scene. I want two cars to collide, and everyone advises me to choose two old, shabby cars. But how can the director’s character drive a shabby car? I convince each investor quite hard about these things.

My team and I both try very hard to make sure investors understand that we are spending money appropriately. Fortunately, compared to previous films, the investment budget for Face Off 7 is “easier” to help me unleash my creativity. We can build billion-dollar sets to create the best effect for the movie,” the director born in 1968 confided.

Questioning the idea of ​​intentionally releasing the film on the holiday of April 30 – May 1 to increase revenue, Ly Hai revealed that this occasion is a “fate” because almost every year his films are finished on the same day. this moment.

Currently, according to data from Box Office Vietnam, the film has brought in nearly 27 billion VND after only 2 days of release (from April 24 – starting with early screenings – to noon April 26). According to the crew, the film sold more than 105,000 tickets, becoming the Vietnamese film with the highest 6-day advance ticket sales of all time.