Does high revenue mean good movie quality?
Tran Thanh returned to the big screen with The Four Guardians , which from the first days of the year has continuously set records, surpassing the film Mai when it "reached 100 billion VND fastest of all time" after only 2.5 days (the film Mai took 3 days), reaching the 200 billion VND mark after only 5 days. Currently, the film has a revenue of 314 billion VND after 16 days of showing, despite being criticized for its quality, noisy acting, superficial script and the number of screenings per day has decreased from more than 6,000 to more than 2,000.
Movie Avengers: Endgame
Meanwhile, Nu hon bac bien (The Billion Dollar Kiss) by director Thu Trang did not have high revenue when it was first released, but thanks to the "effect of Tran Thanh's criticized film", the screenings were increased and from a meager revenue of 30 - 40 billion VND in the first 5 days, it has gone straight to nearly 170 billion VND currently. Yeu vo mo buoi (Love by mistake with a close friend ) by director Nguyen Quang Dung - Diep The Vinh (remade from the script of the Thai film of the same name that was released in theaters more than 5 years ago) is still stuck at 21 billion VND in revenue due to few screenings.
Another surprise happened at the box office when on February 7, the film "Den am hon" by director Hoang Nam with the main cast of non-big names premiered, quickly attracting attention on social networks and leading the revenue of the day, dominating the number of screenings - over 4,500, surpassing the film "Den am hon" by Tran Thanh and Thu Trang. "Den am hon" has currently earned 78 billion VND.
Thus, the total revenue of Vietnamese films in just the past 15 days of showing has reached nearly 600 billion VND and this number will increase even higher when the films will be shown for at least 20 more days before being withdrawn from theaters (certainly far exceeding the total revenue of the 2024 Tet season with the 2 films Mai and Gap lai chi bau ). This shows that the market is open with great purchasing power and the audience always supports Vietnamese films.
Movie Billionaire Kiss
However, the quality of Vietnamese films currently being shown is worth discussing. All four films: The Four Guardians , Billion Dollar Kiss , Love by Mistake , and Ghost Lights have not received high ratings for their quality from audiences and experts. The Four Guardians is a "step back" in terms of directing by Tran Thanh, while Billion Dollar Kiss is only average when the script and acting follow the old motifs of films from the 2000s, the plot twists in the film are created quite superficially, the conflicting situations are too "bland" and the twists are not difficult to predict. When Tran Thanh "fell off his horse" due to the controversy related to the crew's statements, and was fiercely debated about the film's quality, Thu Trang's Billion Dollar Kiss "won" because audiences flocked to buy tickets to see it with the reason "the film is less noisy, the film is simple so it is easy to watch".
The "newcomer" Ghost Lamp , although causing a fever in theaters, has created fierce debates about its quality. The film has a rather interesting folk spiritual plot when the director decided to only take inspiration from the story of the Nam Xuong Girl , then renew and add the "legend" about the ghost lamp that can summon evil spirits, with the character of a female shaman who specializes in catching ghosts in a feudal Northern village. However, the way the script is developed and the details are resolved is not complete, many details are unreasonable, forced, fake effects do not satisfy the audience's expectations, plus the poor acting of the male lead is disappointing.
Win or lose depends on the "seeding war"
Why are the Vietnamese films currently being shown not excellent, not high quality but still hot tickets, achieving huge revenue is the question of many people interested in the domestic film industry. Director Nguyen Khoa said: "The recent Lunar New Year film season was not only a fierce competition for revenue at the box office, but also a fierce battle on the media front. Any film that is well promoted, creating a lot of attention on forums and social networks will be told by word of mouth to go see, creating a crowd mentality, curiosity to go see to follow the trend of the discussion points. When the quality of the film just released at the beginning is no longer the key role, seeding tricks (services to create information online for effective dissemination) quietly influence public opinion, orienting the audience's feelings".
Ghost Lamp Movie
In recent years, the Vietnamese film industry has seen a lot of "seeding campaigns" for movies shown in theaters, and currently, new movies released in theaters have a separate department in charge of promoting the movie on social networks. Some works gain advantages or are "defeated" not because of the quality of the content but because of the strong promotion campaign. Some crews even use a group of commentators with a purpose called "water army" (a name originating from Chinese showbiz, referring to people who target content that flatters or belittles a certain person or event, then give opinions and comments widely, creating a trend of following public opinion). In previous years, many directors such as Nhat Trung, Duc Thinh... have also spoken out about this issue. This year's Tet movie season, from the beginning, on social networks, there have been a series of topics, contradictory comments, mixed praise and criticism about the quality of Vietnamese movies. In addition to Facebook, there are other platforms such as TikTok and hundreds of fanpages with millions of followers about Vietnamese movies and showbiz. The "competitors" constantly launch tricks and many domestic audiences accordingly "fall into the trap" of going to the cinema or decide not to watch a certain movie just because of PR and seeding tricks.
The most important "survival" battle in theaters is the first 3 days of release. If the film does not have many early bookings or the theater is empty, the screenings will be cut, making it easy for the film to be removed from theaters. This has forced filmmakers, production units, and distributors to find every way to get the best revenue for the project. "The real and virtual values have also disrupted the Vietnamese film market, making it impossible to clearly show the audience's current preferences for what genre and content, and leading to the ironic situation where bad films still achieve high revenue," commented producer Bich Lien.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/phim-viet-lap-ky-luc-doanh-thu-nhung-chat-luong-ra-sao-185250213220419232.htm
Comment (0)