The budget of Vietnamese movies is getting higher and higher because filmmakers want to invest more in their work. Many recent movies have invested in elaborate studios and props.
Recently, the Vietnamese movies like The Prince of Bac Lieu, Lynx, Cam, Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story, Claws ... or further like The Last Wife, Southern Forest Land invest heavily in production value (understood as the overall quality of the film in terms of set design, costumes, makeup, bold camera angles, special effects).
There was information The Last Wife Breaks Even at 80 billion, then the film earned more than 100 billion including international release. Or Southern Forest Land belongs to the largest budget group in the market, must be over 100 billion VND to break even.
Upcoming, Prince of Bac Lieu considered one of the highest budget Vietnamese films in 2024 and the break-even point is also very high.
"Making a movie is so humiliating, just go in and you'll know."
In recent years, Vietnamese film producers have tended not to disclose specific budget figures to the press. They often give estimates or use vague terms like "quite high", "relatively high", or understate the amount.
Maybe they want to keep the business secret, keep the break-even point and profit of the film secret. Because nowadays, a big-budget film can still lose money even if it earns 40-50 billion VND, even if it tops the box office for 1-2 weeks.
"Cinema is the seventh art, first of all it must be beautiful. Like Ghost, even though the character is a ghost, she still has to be beautiful. How much money does it cost to make a movie beautiful to every grain of sand? Making a movie costs a lot of money" - actress Viet Huong told Tuoi Tre.
She gave examples like a rope that was so bad it had to be replaced, or a plank on a boat that had to be stepped on to look good in the photo but damaged the boat.
They all paid cash right at the studio. Then they hired extras who were people in the neighborhood. They would act today and take a day off tomorrow, but if there was a special scene, they had to reshoot it the next day.
Movie Ghost (currently the highest grossing horror film in Vietnam with 127 billion VND) the set had to be re-shot, from 30 days to 52 days, the budget was as high as two films.
There are movies on the market today that earn hundreds of billions of dong. Those movies have big profits but they are few.
Cinema - the expensive art industry
The movie "Cong Tu Bac Lieu" (released on December 6) has a grand setting of large villas with tea rooms, theaters, lavish parties, and entertainment.
The costumes in the film are Saigon, Southern fashion from the 1930s. The modern ao dai is inspired by the Lemur ao dai, the Southern Vietnamese ao ba ba. The Western-style vest comes with sophisticated accessories, influenced by French culture.
Lynx: Possession is currently the biggest investment film of 89s Group with production values 20 times higher than previous films.
The film uses expensive special effects to create the black cat with a third eye, the scene of hundreds of mice running and tearing the maid apart, the scene of people being pushed down the stairs, the image of the porcelain relief or the scene of setting up a black magic altar to call the lynx...
Through the film's distributor, director Luu Thanh Luan said the crew worked continuously with 1,600 hours of editing and more than 600 VFX scenes.
At the same time, the crew also restored a 150-year-old house - 51 Ham Nghi in Hue. Producer Ho Xuan Phu commented: "Although it cost a lot of money to renovate the house from the bricks, paint, to the doors, we think this investment is effective because this is the only way to meet all the requirements for storytelling."
Some films invest a lot of money in famous actors. After a film has a high revenue or more than 100 billion, the actors' salaries are often increased. "Hot" actors, who have several films with high revenue or more than 100 billion, often have salaries of over 1 billion VND.
Recently, when looking at the cast of some films, insiders can guess that the budget for the salary is in the billions of dong.
For example, the movie Sister-in-law has the female cast Viet Huong, Hong Dao, Ngoc Trinh, Le Khanh, Dinh Y Nhung. The movie Getting Rich with Ghosts has Hoai Linh, Le Giang, Tuan Tran. The movie The Rich Bride has Uyen An, Le Giang, Kieu Minh Tuan. Most of these actors have had hundred-billion-dollar movies.
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