Tran Thanh fell asleep on victory, gave up the aura, 1 person into the car crash?

Known as two of the "box office kings" of Vietnamese cinema, Tran Thanh and Ly Hai have been contributing to creating a golden era for domestic films in the past nearly a decade.

Works such as The Godfather, The Lady Nu's House, or Ly's series have successively set revenue records, easily reaching hundreds of billions of VND after just a few weeks of premiere.

Their success is not only based on personal attraction but also comes from sensitivity to popular tastes, the ability to build film formulas that are easy to touch emotions, and a wise release strategy on peak occasions such as the Lunar New Year or 30-4.

However, entering 2025, signs that the slowdown of these two big names are starting to become obvious. Although Tran Thanh's Four Guardians still attract attention, they cannot repeat the feat like Ba Nu's House. Similarly, Ly Hai's Sunny Bracelet, even though it is carefully invested, does not create an explosion like the previous parts. Factors that used to be advantages such as emotional storytelling, family-focused, or easy-to-watch entertainment are now gradually becoming an old formula in the eyes of an increasingly diverse audience.

As of May 5, the Vietnamese box office in 2025 has recorded 8 directors whose films have exceeded the VND 100 billion mark in revenue. In particular, three familiar faces who have had hundreds of billions of works before are Tran Thanh, Ly Hai and Victor Vu. If Tran Thanh and Ly Hai continue to extend the series of successes, Victor Vu has regained his form this year with an impressive project.

Most notably, the appearance of five new faces joining the "hundred billion club", including: Thu Trang with Billion Silver Kiss, Hoang Nam with Soul Lamp, Huynh Lap with Ancestral House, Pom Nguyen with Devil Entering the Intestines, and Bui Thac Chuyen with Tunnel: The Sun in the Dark.

This breakthrough not only increases healthy competition, but also breaks the familiar dominance that "big men" such as Tran Thanh or Ly Hai used to hold in peak film seasons such as Tet or the 30-4 holiday. The more filmmakers boldly enter, the more vibrant and diverse the market will be for the audience.

The saturation in the way of making content, plus the strong rise of many young directors and new ideas, has made Tran Thanh and Ly Hai's "monopoly" on the box office map no longer the same as before. The market is changing, and that poses a significant challenge for filmmakers who used to be at the top of their revenues.

If a few years ago, producers often chose to avoid releasing films at the same time with "heavyweight" names like Tran Thanh, this year, the situation has changed. The competition is open, face-to-face — and on many occasions has yielded surprising results.

Typically, the confrontation on the Tet movie track between Tran Thanh's Four Leopards and the Silver Billion Kiss produced by Thu Trang. In terms of media, this seems to be an unbalanced game: Tran Thanh has a long track record, a huge number of followers, and a methodical promotion campaign. While Kiss Silver Billion debuted quietly, lacking a prominent cast of stars and almost "sinking" in the pre-premiere period. But the turning point occurred after the two films were released in theaters at the same time.

Silver Billion Kiss suddenly received a lot of positive feedback from the audience thanks to its fun and pleasant atmosphere, simple but close content. In particular, the graceful performance of the young cast, including Thien An, although not too explosive, created sympathy. On social networks, the wave of sharing and supporting the film spread naturally, gradually overwhelming the amount of content referring to the Four Avengers.

Although in terms of revenue, Silver Billion Kiss could not surpass Tran Thanh, but the victory in public sympathy and word-of-mouth effect clearly belonged to Thu Trang. This success is also a signal that the era of monotony is over, and the Vietnamese cinema track is opening up many new turns for brave filmmakers who dare to step out of their comfort zone.

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