Vietnamese films are expensive, earning hundreds of billions of dong but still not making a profit.

The increasing budgets for Vietnamese films are due to filmmakers wanting to invest more in their productions. Many recent films have invested heavily in elaborate sets and props.

The Prince of Bac Lieu invested heavily in production value and featured a cast of famous actors.

Recently, the Vietnamese films like The Prince of Bac Lieu, The Cat, Cam, Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story, Claws ... or even further back like The last wife, Southern Forest Land Investing heavily in production value (understood as the overall quality of the film in terms of set design, costumes, makeup, bold camera angles, and special effects).

There was information The last wife broke even. Initially, the film started with a budget of 80 billion VND, then it grossed over 100 billion VND, including international distribution. Or... Southern Forest Land Belonging to the highest-budget group in the market, it requires over 100 billion VND to break even.

Upcoming, Prince of Bac Lieu It is considered one of the most expensive Vietnamese films of 2024, and it also has a very high break-even point.

"Making a film is a real pain; you'll know once you step inside."

In recent years, Vietnamese film producers have tended not to disclose specific film budget figures to the press. They often provide estimates or use more vague terms such as "quite high," "relatively high," or understate the figures.

Perhaps they want to keep their business secrets, keeping the film's break-even and profit figures confidential. Because nowadays, a big-budget film can still lose money even if it earns 40-50 billion VND and tops the box office for 1-2 weeks.

"Cinema is the seventh art, and first and foremost, it must be beautiful. Like 'Ghost of the Sea,' even though the character is a ghost, she still has to be beautiful. Imagine how much money it costs to make a film beautiful down to the last grain of sand. Making a film involves many expensive things," actress Viet Huong told Tuoi Tre newspaper.

She gave examples like how the rope was too bad and needed replacing, or how the plank on the boat had to be stepped on to look good in photos, but this ruined the boat.

They all paid in cash right on set. Then they hired extras from the neighborhood. They would act one day and rest the next, but if a scene was particularly important, they had to reshoot it the following day.

Movie Skin (Currently the highest-grossing horror film in Vietnam with 127 billion VND) had to reshoot scenes due to set damage, extending the filming time from 30 days to 52 days, with a budget as high as two films.

The current market has films that gross hundreds of billions of dong. Those films make a large profit, but they are few in number.

Scene of setting up an altar for black magic in the movie "The Spirit Cat: The Corpse Possessed" - Photo: DPCC

Cinema - an expensive art form.

The film "The Prince of Bac Lieu" (released in theaters on December 6th) features a grand setting with large villas, tea houses, theaters, and lavish parties and entertainment.

The costumes in the film are inspired by Saigon and Southern Vietnamese fashion from the 1930s. Modernized ao dai dresses are inspired by the Lemur ao dai and the Southern Vietnamese ao ba ba. Western-style vests are paired with sophisticated accessories, influenced by... French culture.

Meanwhile, "The Lynx: The Corpse Possession" is currently 89s Group's most heavily invested film, with production values 20 times higher than their previous films.

The film boasts expensive special effects to create the black cat with a third eye, scenes of hundreds of rats attacking the maid, the scene of someone being pushed down the stairs, the image of the porcelain relief, or the scene of performing dark magic to summon the spirit cat...

Through the film's distributor, director Luu Thanh Luan stated that the crew worked continuously for 1,600 hours on editing and over 600 scenes were created using VFX.

At the same time, the team also restored the 150-year-old house at 51 Ham Nghi Street in Hue . Producer Ho Xuan Phu commented: "Although it cost a considerable amount of money to renovate the house, from the bricks and paint to the doors, we think this investment was worthwhile because it was the only way to meet all the requirements for storytelling."

Some films invest heavily in famous actors. After a film achieves high box office revenue or exceeds 100 billion VND, actors' salaries are usually increased. "Hot" actors, those with several high-grossing or 100 billion VND box office hits, often command salaries of around 1 billion VND.

Recently, when looking at the cast of some films, industry insiders can guess that the budget for salaries is in the billions of Vietnamese dong.

For example, the film "Sister-in-law" features actresses like Viet Huong, Hong Dao, Ngoc Trinh, Le Khanh, and Dinh Y Nhung. "Making Money with Ghosts" has Hoai Linh, Le Giang, and Tuan Tran. "The Rich Bride" has Uyen An, Le Giang, and Kieu Minh Tuan. Most of these actors have starred in films that grossed over 100 billion VND.

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