Tran Thanh, Vietnam's first trillionaire director

Director and actor Tran Thanh - Photo: HUU HANH

When Tet movies like Cua lai vo bau, Trang Quynh (Tran Thanh as actor), Bo gia, Nha ba Nu (Tran Thanh as director and actor) set box office records one after another, there were still people who thought it was luck or because the family comedy genre was easy to watch, or because the side controversies attracted the audience's curiosity...

Billionaire director Tran Thanh: Fish sauce and durian are not easy to eat, but whoever eats them will be addicted.

But when it comes to Mai , a Tet movie that is not a comedy but has a rather tragic plot, and is also rapidly setting new box office records, perhaps Tran Thanh is the director's name that just hearing it is enough to attract people to go to the cinema to watch the movie.

"The label" Tran Thanh

If we add the revenue of the movie Mai , the total revenue of the three movies directed by Tran Thanh has reached more than 1,180 billion VND (including the previous movies Bo Gia and Nha Ba Nu ).

Ms. Tuong Vi, a film producer of CJ HK Entertainment, told Tuoi Tre : "The truth is that films with the "Tran Thanh" label have become a box office guarantee, causing many audiences to book tickets early before Tet as well as buy tickets in the first days of the year."

Regarding the activities of a showbiz star, the media has long noticed the difference of Tran Thanh when his fanclub is not as active in real life or on social networks as My Tam, Son Tung M-TP, Ho Ngoc Ha or Lan Ngoc, Truong Giang...

Meanwhile, for many artists, fanclub support is very important for their products to be released successfully, appear on the charts, and have high sales.

But Tran Thanh, it seems that the fanclub is just a part of the large audience that receives his products, from television to cinema, most clearly cinema.

If we speak in the word of mouth of young people, Tran Thanh is the type of artist that is "admired by the public".

The audience who goes to the cinema to watch Tran Thanh's movies are not only fans, but also the majority of regular audiences or people who don't care much about him, or even have a slight dislike for Tran Thanh but still want to "watch for the experience", watch to evaluate.

And with record revenues and millions of movie tickets sold, Tran Thanh's movies have "escaped the fan circle", being watched by audiences from many different classes and ages in many different locations.

There are viewers who go to see the show to dispel their previous prejudices about Tran Thanh. After watching Mai , audience member Nguyen Van Anh ( Hanoi ) shared on her personal page:

"Leaving the theater, I told the person who went with me: Oh, after watching the movie, I feel like I have to lower my ego right away, and fix a little bit of prejudice because I don't really consider Tran Thanh anything, I never look at him, I think he's just some random entertainment."

Tran Thanh's film Mai is expected to earn 500 billion VND in revenue - Photo: DPCC

Still walking between two streams of love and hate

That doesn't mean all audiences went to the cinema to see Mai. Everyone thought the movie was good, but not everyone turned to love or recognize Tran Thanh's talent.

The film, as well as the director behind it, continues to move between two streams of love and hate - something Tran Thanh is no stranger to.

Many viewers cried because of Mai , went to the cinema to watch it again and wrote long essays to analyze the psychology of the characters in the film, watching it for a long time but still could not escape. But there were also viewers who said briefly: "The film was bland, nothing lingered."

Some people were so upset by the ending that they wrote a long article analyzing why it should have been handled differently. Some said the movie "destroyed" the souls of single women.

And filmmakers must accept both of these opinions, because film perception is a matter of each person's personal emotions and experiences, there are things that cannot be forced.

Luckily for Mai , the film did not receive as many harsh criticisms as Mrs. Nu's House . Perhaps because Mai did not have arguments and swearing with harsh language like in Mrs. Nu's House , the film still built good enough characters to make the majority of the audience sympathize.

This is a remarkable point in Tran Thanh. He continues to observe life, observe the people around him and put them into films, in a way that people cannot help but watch and discuss.

Tet Box Office: Record and Noise

Actor Anh Tu (film "Meeting again the pregnant woman") interacts with the audience - Photo: Producer

As of 6am on February 19, Tran Thanh's film Mai earned 336 billion VND after only nine days in theaters.

Previously, Mai set a record as the fastest Vietnamese film to reach the revenue milestones of 100 billion, 200 billion and 300 billion.

Mai is expected to conquer many more records in the future.

Also due to the growth in revenue and the number of screenings increasing day by day, Mai is also being criticized for allegedly squeezing out screenings of other films, even though theater representatives and distributors have said that screenings are divided according to market demand.

According to data provided to Tuoi Tre by Box Office Vietnam, this year, from the 1st to the 8th of the first lunar month of Giap Thin, Mai has an average of 4,414 screenings per day.

Similarly, during the same period last year, Mrs. Nu's House had an average of 4,361 screenings per day. When Lat mat 6: Tac ve dinh menh was released on April 30 last year (a few days early), in the eight days since the official screening date of April 30, 2023, the film had an average of 3,122 screenings, with some days having nearly 4,000 screenings.

Thus, showing during Tet is the peak season for the box office, Mai and Mrs. Nu's House (or other films that dominate the Tet box office revenue in the future) all benefit from the number of screenings compared to other times of the year, but not so high that it is abnormal.

Due to the film's very high occupancy rate (up to 58.22%), Mai will still be given many screenings in the coming time and will stay in theaters for a long time.

In addition, the Tet market also created conditions for Meet the Pregnant Sister - the second-ranked film - to earn 58 billion VND as of the afternoon of February 18. Although this revenue growth rate is lower than Mai , it is still good because Meet the Pregnant Sister is not rated too highly.

It is predicted that at this rate, the film can break even. Due to the harsh elimination of Tet films in the market, the two films Sang Den and Tra were withdrawn from theaters after a few days of showing because they could not compete with Mai and Gap Lai Chi Bau .

As Tuoi Tre predicted, the Japanese animated film Spy x Family Code: White proved its appeal during Tet when it ranked third at the box office and earned 20 billion VND. The film is the latest proof of the potential of anime films in Vietnamese theaters.

State-run movies also hit theaters during Tet

Tran Luc in the movie Peach, Pho and Piano (director Phi Tien Son)

Belonging to the State-ordered film genre, Dao, Pho and Piano surprised everyone when the number of viewers booking tickets increased dramatically in the past few days, causing the website of the National Cinema Center to crash.

Along with Hong Ha Nu Si , these are two State films included in the pilot release and dissemination plan for a number of films produced using the state budget issued by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Currently, the National Cinema Center (Hanoi) is the only location in the country showing the above two films.

Speaking with Tuoi Tre , Mr. Vu Duc Tung - acting director of the center - said that from the first to the third day of Tet, this unit only arranged three screenings.

"However, compared to Ms. Hong Ha, in the past few days, the films Dao, Pho and Piano have been unusually popular. The center's departments had to consult to increase the number of screenings to 11. On February 19, 15 screenings will be opened," he said.

The National Cinema Center informed that as of noon on February 17, all tickets for the movie Dao, Pho and Piano on February 19 and 20 were sold out.

Up to now, Dao, Pho and Piano have sold 5,162 tickets, earning nearly 300 million VND. Meanwhile, female poet Hong Ha has sold 699 tickets, earning 41.2 million VND.

It is predicted that the number of tickets for Dao, Pho and Piano will increase in the next few days. Mr. Tung also informed that with State-owned films, the theater will show them until the audience runs out, at least a month.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tran-thanh-dao-dien-nghin-ti-dau-tien-cua-viet-nam-20240218224634061.htm