Viet Nam News
HCM CITY – Cinemas and theatres over the long Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday reported full houses and high ticket sales for foreign film screenings.
CGV Cinemas and Galaxy Cinema said they had a full house during Tet, with more tickets sold for foreign films than for Vietnamese films.
Released on January 27 (Lunar New Year’s Eve), Hollywood blockbuster xXx: Return of Xander Case, the third installment in the xXx franchise and a sequel to both xXx (2002) and xXx: State of the Union (2005), raked in VND32 billion (US$1.43 million) in ticket sales in five days.
A new production of Jackie Chan, Kung Fu Yoga, was released on the same day of the Hollywood production. The action-adventure comedy, written and directed by Stanley Tong, earned VND17.5 billion ($785,000) after five days of release.
Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back, a Chinese fantasy-adventure-comedy film directed by Tsui Hark and written and produced by Stephen Chow, appeared on screens in January. It earned VND35 billion ($1.57 million) in ticket sales in just four days.
Nguyen Huyen Trang, a representative of Galaxy Cinema, which released Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back and Kung Fu Yoga, said: “Many Vietnamese people like Stephen Chow and Jackie Chan’s films.”
This season saw the release of four domestic films, including Nang Tien Co Nam Nha (A Pretty Woman), Rung Xanh Ky La Truyen (Magical Forest), Luc Van Tien: Tuyet Dinh Kungfu (Luc Van Tien: Kungfu Hustle), and Chay Di Roi Tinh (Lost in Sai Gon).
Of these, veteran director Tran Ngoc Giau’s Nang Tien Co Nam Nha had the highest number of ticket sales with VND19 billion ($852,000) after five days of release beginning on January 27.
The film is about a young and beautiful girl (played by Kha Ngan), who tries to “manage” four rich men at the same time. It also stars famous comic actors Hoai Linh, Chi Tai and Tan Beo.
Three other films, however, had lower ticket sales and thus limited show times.
Local filmmakers said that Viet Nam began to label domestic films in 2017. Four Tet films were labeled with C13 and C16 classifications.
As a result, the films lost audiences as many people choose films for all of their family members.
Many moviegoers said the similarity in the plot of films for Tet was boring.
Tran Bao Tram, a senior student at the HCM City’s Open University, who visited Galaxy Cinema to watch a Hollywood production, said: “I watched the film because of its quality, plot, and actors.”
“I don’t choose Vietnamese films because I don’t like the way most local filmmakers use comedy details in their films. Some of them are weird and meaningless,” she added.
Meanwhile, thousands of families flocked to theatres to watch dramas.
Trinh Kim Chi of the Trinh Kim Chi Drama Theatre, said that most of the big theatres, including The Gioi Tre, Hoang Thai Thanh, IDECAF and Phu Nhuan, expanded their performing schedule during Tet.
Chi’s theatre introduced four new plays, including Lo Lem Truyen Ky (Story of Vietnamese Cinderella), Phim Truong Dai Chien (War at Film Studio), Hoa Hau Ao Lang (Miss Countryside Pageant), and Chang va Thiep (You and Me), featuring funny stories with meaningful lessons.
“We did better than last year. We will continue to stage new comedies with romantic details in the upcoming weeks to serve people, especially on Valentine’s Day,” said director Ngoc Hung, director of The Gioi Tre Theatre.
The theatre offered three new plays during Tet, with all tickets selling out after two weeks. VNS