The movie starring Tran Thanh and Thu Trang suddenly became a hit.

Before taking on the role of director and competing during Tet, Tran Thanh and Thu Trang had acted together in a film.

Thu Trang and Tran Thanh in the movie "Sunshine". Photo: Producer

The Vietnamese film market in early 2025 witnessed a "competition" between Tran Thanh and Thu Trang with two works "The Four Guardians" and "The Billion Dollar Kiss".

After about a week of dominating the box office, Tran Thanh's film's revenue stagnated, while "Billion Dollar Kiss" turned the tide and surpassed the 100 billion VND mark.

When Tran Thanh and Thu Trang compete, audiences look to rewatch the movies they both appeared in.

In 2016, the couple co-starred in the movie “Sunshine” (part 1). This was the highest-grossing domestic movie of 2016, earning 64 billion VND.

The film tells the story of the mother-daughter relationship between a mentally disabled mother named Mua (played by Thu Trang) and her daughter Nang (played by Kim Thu). Thu Trang plays a mentally disabled, naive mother with a 6-year-old daughter, and every day she has to struggle to make a living to raise her child by selling lottery tickets and collecting scrap metal.

Tran Thanh plays a supporting role as Lam - a young man infected with HIV who accompanies Mua and her mother.

The film helped Thu Trang receive a Green Star nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture.

Thu Trang and Tran Thanh compete in the 2025 Tet film race. Photo: Producer

As co-stars and long-time colleagues, the race between Tran Thanh and Thu Trang in the role of director is of interest to the audience.

Thu Trang also shared about the clash with Tran Thanh: "When making a film, I always want the work to reach as many audiences as possible and recover the capital. Therefore, I am quite pressured. However, I have in my hands a well-crafted, quality product.

Of course, everyone sees Tran Thanh as a very big name with a large fan base. But Tien Luat and I are also names with our own colors and audiences, so we are very confident," Thu Trang shared.

The fact that "Billion Dollar Kiss" broke through in revenue and at one point surpassed Tran Thanh's film in daily revenue was surprising.

Remember that in the 2023 and 2024 Tet movie seasons, Tran Thanh continuously held the box office throne. In fact, the male director's project even took the No. 1 spot in daily box office revenue for about a month when his film was released. The male director's projects at that time, "Nha Ba Nu" and "Mai", had no rivals at the theater despite having to compete with Vietnamese films and foreign blockbusters.

Tran Thanh's full name is Huynh Tran Thanh, born in 1987. After winning third prize in the 2006 Golden Swallow contest, he started his career as a show host. In addition, he is also an actor and director, with many hundred-billion-dong film projects: "Bo gia", "Nha ba nu", "Mai", "Bo tu bao thu".

Thu Trang's full name is Tran Ngoc Thu Trang, a famous comedian. She is known to the audience thanks to her participation in the films: "I am your grandmother", "The war of brides", "Winning the lottery", "Sunshine", "Blood moon party"...

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