The chase of Ly Hai and Victor Vu

After many days of holding the top spot at the box office, Ly Hai's film "Lat mat 8" officially dropped to second place, after Victor Vu's "Tham tu Kien". The revenue of the two works as of the afternoon of May 7 reached 171.3 billion VND and 155.3 billion VND respectively, according to Box Office Vietnam (an independent box office statistics unit).

With the above revenue achievements, the two most notable film projects of the April 30-May 1 holiday season this year have surpassed the break-even point and entered the conquest of the next milestone - 200 billion VND. Although this is a high number, compared to "Lat mat 7: Mot giau uoc" which created a fever, with a record revenue of more than 482 billion VND, becoming the second highest-grossing Vietnamese film of all time, "Lat mat 8" made many people express regret.

In response to the conflicting opinions, Ly Hai responded to the Vietnam Law Newspaper: “These days I have no time to sleep, only napping for 2-3 hours each day. I mainly listen to feedback from my team members and colleagues.

After the two premieres and the first few days of screening, I had the opportunity to interact with the audience. I was moved to see the theater packed, and many people had red eyes after watching the film and couldn’t stop crying. Those were the real audience and reactions that I saw with my own eyes, not through social media or this or that page.”

Phim “Lật mặt 8” đang tiến gần với cột mốc doanh thu 200 tỷ đồng. Ảnh: NSX

The movie “Flip Side 8” is approaching the 200 billion VND revenue milestone. Photo: Producer

For the 57-year-old director, in this film, he wants to bring healing stories amidst the overwhelming negative and contradictory information out there. “If everyone does negative things, who will do positive things? That is the answer I gave myself when I decided to choose a “difficult to swallow” topic like a family film for young people. This is also the way I challenge myself as a filmmaker.

Usually when I start a project, I sit for a long time to evaluate the market. Seeing that the Vietnamese market has had many ghost and horror films recently, I definitely won't do it to avoid duplication. I have my own thoughts and directions. I avoid things that many people do, because I don't like to touch and don't want to mention anyone."

In recent days, Ly Hai - Minh Ha and the cast have been diligently going on cinetours in many provinces and cities across the country. During some exchanges in the Western provinces, TikToker Le Tuan Khang also accompanied the film crew.

Những ngày qua, ê-kíp phim dành thời gian đi giao lưu cùng khán giả ở các tỉnh thành trên cả nước. Ảnh: NSX

In recent days, the film crew has spent time interacting with audiences in provinces and cities across the country. Photo: Producer

As for the director and producer duo Victor Vu - Dinh Ngoc Diep, they also actively interacted with audiences at many theaters, sharing posts related to the film "Detective Kien". The success and impact of the project were said to be beyond the duo's expectations.

In fact, Dinh Ngoc Diep initially admitted that she felt a lot of pressure with the film. The director's wife was worried that she and Quoc Huy might not have enough appeal to attract audiences to the theater like the younger faces. Meanwhile, despite his desire to bring a unique historical detective story, Victor Vu confessed that his project this time is a "new dish" for Vietnamese audiences.

“This is a dream I have been pursuing for a long time. The open ending of the film is like an “extra dish”, letting the audience decide for themselves whether they are still eager for the story or not. I did not set a specific revenue target from the beginning. What I care about most is whether the audience can feel the message and emotions that I want to convey through the film.

The success of a film, for me, does not lie in the numbers but in whether it leaves a deep impression on the audience. From there, I will consider whether the next script is worthy of opening a new chapter for this story," said the director.