Vietnamese movies suffer heavy losses in 2022

According to statistics, in 2022, nearly 30 Vietnamese films released in theaters lost money, some films did not even reach 1 billion in revenue and had to be withdrawn from theaters early because they could not sell tickets.

Among them, there are many works with investments of tens of billions of dong, featuring famous faces in the entertainment industry, but still suffer the same fate of stagnation.

"Duyen ma" revenue 6.7 billion VND

The film "Duyen ma" by director Khanh Toan - Tam Nguyen earned more than 6.7 billion VND, according to statistics from Box Office Vietnam. The two main actors in the film are Kieu Minh Tuan and Ngoc Trinh, promising to create a fever on the screen in August 2022.

However, the audience commented that the actors' acting was forced and ridiculous; the script had many crude comedic scenes; the ghost was portrayed as mean, even knowing how to drink alcohol, brush his teeth in the morning, and demanding to "burn" sanitary napkins.

In addition, the film's special effects are also done in a sketchy and fake way. Ngoc Trinh's acting and appearance are also minus points, although "Duyen Ma" exploits a topic that is quite attractive to Asian and Vietnamese audiences.

The presence of Kieu Minh Tuan and Ngoc Trinh did not help "Duyen Ma" win big on screen. Photo: DPCC.

"Maika: The Girl from Another Planet" revenue of 5 billion VND

"Maika: The Girl from Another Planet" is a rare Vietnamese children's film released in theaters in 2022. The film was invested with 30 billion VND but only earned nearly 5 billion VND since its release on May 27.

At the time of its release, the film "collided" with the blockbuster "Doraemon: Nobita and the Little Universe War" and was completely overshadowed. Despite its meticulous effects and simple content, "Maika: The Girl from Another Planet" was still criticized for its villainous characters and plot that was not appealing to adults.

“Maika: The Girl from Another Planet” failed because of choosing the wrong time to release in theaters. Photo: DPCC.

"578: Madman's Bullet" revenue 3 billion VND

Director Luong Dinh Dung's work premiered on May 20, but left theaters early due to lack of tickets. The film was a huge investment, costing up to 60 billion VND, and featured Miss H'hen Nie.

However, the predictable character development, lack of breakthrough script and messy scene editing left viewers disappointed. In the end, the film was withdrawn from theaters with a revenue of only 3 billion VND after 2 weeks of showing, only 1/20 of the investment capital.

On September 23, Mr. Ta Quang Dong - Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism - signed a decision to assign film production unit 578 to submit a dossier to compete for the 95th Oscar in the International Film category.

However, director Luong Dinh Dung admitted that he did not expect to win the award but only considered it an experience.

H'hen Nie had an impressive debut, performed martial arts scenes well but had little screen time. Photo: Producer.

"The Third Person" revenue of nearly 1 billion VND

Although the movie "The Third Person" (released on May 13) has the participation of famous Korean actor Han Jae Suk and a prestigious Korean crew, its revenue was only nearly 1 billion VND and it was in theaters for more than 10 days.

Ly Nha Ky revealed that she invested about 33 billion VND for the entire work after buying back the copyright from the old producer.

The film has many "flaws" in the script and acting, including the weak acting of the female lead Ly Nha Ky. This is also one of the main reasons why the film failed.

Sharing at the press conference, Ly Nha Ky gave herself only 3 points out of 10 for her acting, a step back from her time in "Beauty and the Tycoon" (2008). She admitted that her fault was her poor diction and lack of practice time, so she did not have a polished performance.

Ly Nha Ky's acting and voice made the audience unable to "feel" the plot, while actor Han Jae Suk could not speak Vietnamese and had to dub his voice. Photo: Producer.

"Lover" revenue 1.3 billion VND

"The Lover" released after 5 years of production, with the participation of supermodel Minh Tu, is also a "flop" in 2022 of Vietnamese cinema.

Responding to Lao Dong about the film taking 5 years to be released, the film crew said: "The film has many hot scenes so it was not approved at first. We had to edit it accordingly and re-shoot many scenes to not lose the content of the film while ensuring its artistic value."

In the film, Minh Tu has nude scenes and many sex scenes but is considered offensive and vulgar.

The film only earned a mere 1.3 billion VND when it was released in early 2022, failing to attract audiences due to its bland content and outdated, unattractive storytelling.

“The Lover” attracted attention before its release thanks to its trailer filled with hot scenes. Photo: Producer.