On Friday, director Dang Thai Huyen’s “Red Rain” became only the second Vietnamese film to reach the milestone, after “Mai,” a 2024 hit by actor-director Tran Thanh, which achieved it in 20 days.
The film continues to dominate the market with more than 5,000 daily screenings nationwide. The film is expected to soon overtake “Mai” (VND551 billion) to become the highest-grossing Vietnamese movie of all time.
According to independent box office tracker Box Office Vietnam, audiences in Hanoi contributed one-third of total revenue, with about 1.5 million tickets sold. The city also recorded the highest occupancy rates nationwide. The company said the success of the film could encourage northern filmmakers to invest more heavily and release additional large-scale projects.
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Cuong (right, played by actor Do Nhat Hoang), a revolutionary soldier in “Red Rain,” with Quang, a Vietnamese soldier (played by actor Steven Nguyen). Photo courtesy of the “Mua Do” production team |
Within 15 days, the film broke multiple records. It became the first Vietnamese movie to earn more than VND50 billion in a single day, surpassing the record set by “Mai.” Huyen also became the first female Vietnamese director to cross the VND300 billion mark with a single work.
The film portrays the Second Battle of Quang Tri during the Vietnam War in 1972. Scriptwriter Chu Lai focuses on the lives of a squad of soldiers from different regions. The main character, Cuong, a martial arts-trained conservatory student, gives up the opportunity to study abroad to enlist. Under the leadership of Ta, he and his squadmates, Binh, Tu, Hai, and Sen, battle side by side, overcoming their different backgrounds and personalities.
Produced on a large scale, the film was shot on a 50-hectare set built along the Thach Han River in Quang Tri. The production employed advanced equipment, including up to seven cameras for major battle scenes. While the budget has not been disclosed, industry observers estimate it was in the hundreds of billions of dong.
In recent years revolutionary war films have attracted growing audiences. Phi Tien Son’s “Dao, Pho va Piano” (Peach Blossoms, Pho, and Piano) released in early 2024 grossed nearly VND21 billion. In April this year Bui Thac Chuyen’s “Dia Dao” (The Tunnel) about soldiers in the Cu Chi Tunnels in HCMC earned VND172 billion.
