Why do remakes lose their appeal?

Despite starring box office star Kaity Nguyen and being released during the golden season (Tet 2025), 'Love by mistake for a best friend' (directed by Diep The Vinh and Nguyen Quang Dung) - a remake of Thailand's 'Friend Zone' - only grossed 21.5 billion VND, far behind the two films released at the same time, 'The Four Guardians' (332 billion VND) and 'The Billionaire Kiss' (212 billion VND).

Previously, many Vietnamese films remade from foreign films also continuously failed in terms of revenue. Murder on the 4th Floor (2024), directed by Nguyen Huu Tuan, remade from Melbourne in Iran, earned only 2 billion VND. Parallel (released in theaters in 2021) by director Nguyen Huu Hoang, remade from the Spanish film Mirage, earned 3.4 billion VND. Invisible Evidence, remade from Blind (Korea), earned 7.5 billion VND... Is it time for the trend of remakes to no longer attract audiences?

Love by mistake best friend Vietnamese version with box office star Kaity Nguyen

Photo: DPCC

Going back in time, when talking about remakes, we cannot fail to mention the success of Blood Moon Party (2022) directed by Nguyen Quang Dung, a remake of the original Perfect Strangers (Italy), which earned up to 175 billion VND. I am your grandmother (2015), a remake of Miss Granny (Korea), by Phan Gia Nhat Linh, earned 102 billion VND - a record of 10 years ago. The next highest-grossing remakes are: Glorious Years (2018) with 84 billion VND, Super Easy Career (2022) 70 billion VND, Hundred Billion Key (2022) 68 billion VND...

No one can make a remake and be sure it will be successful because there is no general formula. No matter what type of project, there will be successes and failures.

Director Charlie Nguyen

"Filmmakers are like chefs, how can they know what to cook to please the customer? Remakes are the same. Most remakes have been successful in the market they were created in and have been well received by the audience. No one remakes a failed film. The whole world makes remakes, like when we hear a good story and then tell it again. That's the form. However, there are films that audiences have watched in the original, and now the internet also helps viewers watch the original film even though it hasn't been released in Vietnam. Once they watch the original, will they watch the remake, which has been Vietnamized, and "dressed in a new outfit"?", director Charlie Nguyen raised the question.

Blood Moon Party is still the highest grossing remake film.

Photo: DPCC

He also shared that, depending on the perspective of each director, when making a remake, one can change or add this character, remove that character, or even edit the script to suit Vietnamese culture. That is also a difficult problem for filmmakers and investors to choose a director when their perspective is faithful to the original, or just borrows the idea to adapt. This needs to be discussed carefully before implementation.

"No one makes a remake and can be sure it will be successful because there is no common formula. No matter how you do it, there will be successful and failed projects," said director Charlie Nguyen.

Murder on the 4th floor has the participation of 2 familiar faces Truong The Vinh and Luong Bich Huu.

Photo: DPCC

Trinh Hoan, producer of many remakes such as Thang nam ruc ro , Tiec trang mau , Yeu phan ban than ..., commented: "I don't think the main problem lies in the original or the remake. Remakes have the advantage of having a good script and being known by many people, but also have the limitation that the audience already knows the story so they are less interested and curious. The problem lies in the movie itself, whether we make it attractive enough and have anything new to make the audience interested or not".

This producer also explained that the lack of success in terms of revenue is also related to many other aspects such as marketing, release time, audience interest at the time of screening... "In short, in my own opinion, a successful movie lies in the movie itself, not in the original or remake," said producer Trinh Hoan.

For me, what matters is how to make a remake. Vietnamese remakes recently are not very creative and are inferior to the originals, so audiences do not accept them well. If I receive a remake script that I like, I will do it. Hollywood still makes remakes and those works have won Oscars. I think that remakes that are well made still have creative and artistic value. Up to now, there have been successful Vietnamese remakes that have achieved high revenue, but that is not many.

Director Vu Ngoc Dang

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/vi-sao-phim-lam-lai-mat-suc-hut-185250605211434893.htm