In recent days, the animated film "Na Tra: The Sea ofpopulation" has been making waves at the Chinese box office market. The work broke a series of records, becoming the first animated film to reach a revenue of 1.4 billion USD (about 34.56 trillion VND) right in the domestic market.
As of February 15, "Na Tra: The Chaos of the Sea" has risen to the top 1 box office revenue in China and top 2 global animation revenue. The work is currently ranked in the top 14 films with the highest revenue in the world.
With the success of the two films "Na Tra", director Suoi Cao surpassed a series of other famous names such as Truong Nghe Mau, Tran Khai Ca... to become the director with the highest box office revenue in the history of Chinese cinema.
Few people know that before becoming a famous film director, the young director had gone through a difficult journey to pursue his dream of making cartoons.
Director Suoi Cao's real name is Duong Vu, born in 1980 in Sichuan, China. Growing up in a family with a tradition of being a medical doctor, he passed the entrance exam to the pharmacy of Tu Xuyen University - Hoa Tay Pharmaceutical Academy.
The turning point came to him in his third year of college, when a friend introduced Suoi Tao to Maya graphic design software. From here, he found his true passion for making cartoons.
After graduating, instead of pursuing a medical career, he chose to work at an advertising company. However, the dream of making cartoons is always motivating, causing him to decide to give up a stable job to pursue a creative path.
Her father is deceased and unemployed, and Suoi Cao has no penny left in her pocket and has to live on her mother's 1,000 yuan (about 3.5 million VND) pension each month. However, his mother always supported her son in pursuing his passion.
At that time, because he had no money to buy copyright software, nor anyone to guide him, Suoi Cao had to use "unlocking" software and self-study all the words from image creation, movement, effects to self-onal voice for the character.
After nearly 4 years of hard work, in 2009, he released the short animated film "Hitting a Big Watermelon". The 16-minute film has helped him win more than 30 domestic and international awards, becoming a milestone to bring Suoi Cao's name closer to the professional animation industry.
In 2019, he decided to establish his own studio with his friend and released the animated film "Na Tra: The Comedy World", a brainchild that he has been nurturing for 5 years.
Suoi Cao and his team edited the script 66 times to complete the content, designing 100 Na Tra versions before choosing the final version.
It is the strictness in every detail that has helped Na Tra: The Sea of Comics become the most successful animated film in Chinese history, earning 725 million USD (about 17.89 trillion VND), opening a new era for the countrys animation industry.
Not stopping there, in 2025, Suoi Cao continued to stir up the box office with "Na Tra: The Chaos of the Sea".
The film took 5 years to complete with more than 4,000 personnel involved in the production process, far exceeding the figure of about 1,600 in the first part.
The film focuses on investing in the visual experience of viewers with a total of 1,900 vivid scenes. The film crew used 800 computers to create 180,000 eye-catching and impressive frames.
From an unknown medical student to the director of a billion-dollar "blockbuster" cartoon, Suoi Cao's story is a testament to the power of passion and perseverance.
