One of the biggest failures was Farewell Berlin Wall (Quyen), directed by Nguyen Phan Quang Binh, which had a budget of 22 billion VND (US$1 million), but earned less than 9 billion VND (US$410,000). Farewell Berlin Wall is an epic drama about the life of a Vietnamese woman who immigrated to East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The movie also didn’t win critical praise, and was not accepted to any major international film festivals. In 2015, the state-owned studio movies didn’t make any money at the box office or play at any international film festivals, even though their budgets were high. My Nhan (The Beauty*), a poorly produced and directed historical drama budgeted at 16 billion VND (US$727,000 USD made just 500 million VND (US$22,000). Comedies still perform strongly at the Vietnamese box office, with bankable comedians such as Thai Hoa, Hoai Linh and newcomer Truong Giang. But these comedies don’t get good reviews from film critics. Meanwhile, many critically acclaimed movies are big commercial failures, which leads studios to play it safe and invest primarily in comedies. At the end of 2014 and in early 2015, a drama inspired by a true story became a box-office hit with taking 60 billion VND (US$2.7 million). Dandelion (Chang trai nam ay) follows a young singer who discovers he has cancer, but tries to hide it from his family and friends. Dandelion proved that good drama can also drag Vietnamese audiences to theatres. The lead actor, Son Tung MTP, later became the number one superstar of Vietnam. The comedic drama Jackpot (Trung So), Dustin Nguyen’s second feature as director, became a big hit during the Lunar New Year season. This traditional holiday is the usual time for comedies to perform well at the Vietnamese box office. The film follows a lottery seller who helps other people, although her own life is problematic and miserable. Jackpot was later selected by The Cinema Department to represent Vietnam for submission to the Oscar’s best foreign film category. As previously mentioned, Vietnam’s first superhero movie attemptSuper X (Sieu Nhan X), by director Nguyen Quang Dung, was a failure at the box office, earning 16 billion VND (US$727,000) on a 20 billion VND (US$900,000) budget. By contrast Ngay Nay Ngay Nay (Once Upon Nowadays*) the first attempt at a fantasy film from famous actress, and first-time producer, Ngo Thanh Van (Veronica Ngo), proved a limited success. It earned 35 billion VND at the box office (US$1.6 million). It’s a fantasy fairytale about two fairies who journey to present day Ho Chi Minh City. Their quest is to find the Dragon King before evil takes over their Heavenly Kingdom. After making her international film debut in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 2, Ngo Thanh Van decided to direct the sequel, Tam Cam: The Untold(Tam Cam Chuyen Chua Ke), based on a Vietnamese Cinderella-alike fairy story with a modern twist. Tam Cam will be released later in 2016. In October, another drama became a phenomenon at the box office: Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass (Toi thay hoa vang tren co xanh), directed by Victor Vu, and produced by Galaxy Studio and The Cinema Department. The movie is based on a best-selling novel about two brothers growing up in the Vietnamese countryside during the 1980s. Nostalgia was a big draw for the audience. Up until Sweet 20, this movie was the number one hit at the box office with 78 billion VND (around US$3.5 million). Its success shows that a non-comedy without big stars can still succeed at the box-office. Sadly, the success of Yellow Flowers is the exception to the rule rather than the norm. For example, in early 2016, director Ham Tran’s Bitcoin Heist (Sieu Trom) failed at the box office during the Lunar New Year season, even though the movie was praised by film critics and online audiences. Well edited, fast paced and possessing great action sequences, and an abundance of visual effects, the movie still couldn’t convince Vietnamese audiences to vote with their wallets. It couldn’t compete with the many low-brow comedies during the holiday season, and a battle between local exhibitors and distributors didn’t help. On top of this, several Chinese and Hollywood blockbusters (such as Stephen Chow’s Mermaidand Marvel’s Deadpool) were conquering the box office during the same period. Some industry insiders feel that movie audiences are resistant to new and interesting genres. Others think the box-office disappointments were due to a lack of emotion, and a lack of sympathetic characters. By the end of 2014, comedy sequel Let Hoi Decide (De Mai Tinh 2), directed by Charlie Nguyen and produced by CJ E&M, had made a record 105 billion VND (US$4.72 million) to become the highest-grossing movie of all time in Vietnam. Early 2015 was disappointing, as many films bombed, such as Detective Henry (Quyen, Tham tu Henry), Triple Trouble (Bo Ba Rac Roi), Kungfu Pho, Hy sinh doi trai... Comedies still ruled the box office, including Lat Mat, an action comedy (60 billion VND / US$2.7 million), Ma Dai, a horror comedy (40 billion VND / US$1.8 million), 49 Days, another horror comedy (70 billion VND / US$3.15 million), and Gia Gan, My Nhan va gang-to (Old Man, Beautiful Girl and Gangsters*), an action comedy (50 billion VND / $2.25 million USD). By the end of 2015, Sweet 20 (Em la ba noi cua anh) broke all records when it earned 106 billion VND (US$4.76 million), and at the time of writing is still playing in theatres. CJ also released the movie in Australia, Turkey and the US. But it was a sad year for art house and indie films.
越南本土电影2015年综述,喜欢的可以看看。