In early 2025, the domestic film market witnessed the successful debut of two new directors, Hoang Nam and Thu Trang. Hoang Nam, a successful content creator, ventured into filmmaking with his spiritual-folk film, " Den Am Hon" (The Ghost Lamp ). The film was a huge box office success, grossing over 105 billion VND (according to data from the independent box office monitoring unit Box Office Vietnam ). Meanwhile, Thu Trang, a successful actress and producer, also achieved a resounding victory in her directorial debut with "Nu Hon Bac Ty" (Billion-Dollar Kiss) , earning over 211 billion VND at the box office. This is a remarkable achievement for new directors, and even a dream figure for many seasoned filmmakers.
Less than a year after their big-money debut, both Hoang Nam and Thu Trang quickly returned to the box office with their second film, featuring significant investment and upgrades in staging and production processes. However, the film's box office success soon disappointed them. Hoang Nam's film, "Generation of Miracles ," premiered in December 2025 and received mostly negative reviews. The film suffered heavy losses, grossing only over 853 million VND. Thu Trang's film, "Who Loves Whom ," which she considered her most heavily invested project to date, also faltered at the box office during the 2026 New Year holiday, earning just over 28 billion VND.
Following the success of "The Billion Dollar Kiss ," Thu Trang soon returned to directing with the film "Who Loves Whom, " but the box office was not promising.
PHOTO: FBNV
The setback in his latest project prompted the director to make adjustments to his career path. Hoang Nam admitted it was a painful fall and soon announced his return to content creation. "The failure of 'The Generation of Miracles' left me penniless because I invested a lot of my money in it and didn't get much in return, just enough to pay off some of my debts," he said. He even shared that 'The Generation of Miracles' might be his last feature film, despite previously enthusiastically revealing promising film plans.
Is the market unpredictable, or is the director still inexperienced?
Discussing the story of directors Thu Trang and Hoang Nam, film critic Tuan Lalarme believes that calling their second work a decline is inaccurate. "In some ways, I see that both of their skills have improved, the work is more interesting, and they put in more effort. However, in terms of box office performance, it could certainly be called a fall. I think that stems from both of them being overly confident in their understanding of market demand, and both wanting to 'go all out' in this new work," Tuan Lalarme assessed.
Sharing more specifics, Tuan Lalarme argued that with "The Generation of Miracles ," director Hoang Nam was taking a real risk by creating a "purely Northern Vietnamese" film, something that lacked the box office appeal of similar works. Meanwhile, with "Who Loves Whom ," the subject matter was more likely to be popular, and Thu Trang, being an entertainer, understood audience preferences. However, the timing of the release was unfavorable, and the filmmakers were also greedy in constantly pushing the drama, causing the psychological drama to have many disjointed moments, making it difficult for the audience to connect. Tuan Lalarme believes that new directors don't lack vision, and the market isn't unpredictable; it's just that these filmmakers haven't done it well enough.
The hit movie "Generation of Miracles" suffered heavy losses at the box office, forcing director Hoang Nam to temporarily put his passion for filmmaking on hold.
PHOTO: MOVIE POSTER
From a box office perspective, Nguyen Khanh Duong, founder of Box Office Vietnam , stated that it's perfectly normal for a director to succeed with one film and fail with another in the Vietnamese market, or in any film market worldwide . "From my point of view, this shows that neither Hoang Nam nor Thu Trang are directors who can guarantee box office success. In Vietnam, we already have directors who are established names with loyal audiences. Tran Thanh, Ly Hai, and Victor Vu are examples," Duong analyzed.
According to him, in the case of films by directors Thu Trang and Hoang Nam, audiences go to the cinema out of curiosity about the work, not because they trust the director. Therefore, when "Who Loves Whom" and "The Generation of Miracles " were released during a low season, competing with "blockbusters" like Avatar 3 and Zootopia 2, coupled with less appealing themes compared to other Vietnamese films released at the same time, the audience's indifference is not surprising.
The founder of Box Office Vietnam believes that in the future, if there is an appealing topic that impresses the author, both Hoang Nam and Thu Trang could absolutely return as directors or producers. "For example, Vo Thanh Hoa, after the failure of 'Kính vạn hoa' , recently achieved success as a producer with 'Truy tìm long diên hương '," Mr. Duong said.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cu-nga-sau-khoi-dau-phim-tram-ti-185260124193355179.htm
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