Released on the occasion of this year's 30.4-1.5 holiday, "Flip Side 8: Sun Hands" is expected to continue the success of the hit series "Flip Side" directed by Ly Hai. However, after 10 days of release, the work has not been able to bring about the expected results.
According to statistics from Box Office Vietnam, as of May 9, the film had reached nearly 189 billion VND in box office revenue. This is a quite impressive number for Vietnamese films after more than 10 days of release, but it is a step back for Ly Hai.
For comparison, in 2024, the film "Flip Side 7: A D wish" released on April 30 received many compliments from the audience. Despite having to compete with a series of foreign cinema "blockbusters" such as "Godzilla x Kong: New Order", "Siege: The punitioner"... the film still earned 200 billion VND in box office revenue after only 6 days of release, a number that perhaps part 8 needs to be doubled in time to achieve.
"Flip Side 7: A uoc mo" also topped the Vietnamese box office revenue chart for many consecutive weeks. The film left theaters with a total revenue of 482.5 billion VND, becoming one of the most popular movies on Vietnamese screens.
Meanwhile, "Flip Side 8: Sun Hands" cannot do this. Despite having a much larger number of screenings than "Detective Kien: Ky an Khong Dau" released at the same time, the film could only lead the box office revenue in the first week.
From May 6, "Flip Side 8" began to show signs of exhaustion, many times to lose the throne on the daily revenue rankings. As of May 9, the daily revenue of "Detective Kien" exceeded 8 billion VND with 92,349 tickets sold/2,502 screenings. Ly Hai's film dropped to 2nd place with a revenue of only over VND4.8 billion, selling 55,414 tickets/2,163 screenings.
The total revenue of "Detective Kien" as of May 9 has reached nearly 176 billion VND. With the current momentum, it is very likely that "Detective Kien" will surpass "Flip Side 8" in terms of total box office revenue in the near future.
"Flip Side 8: Sun Hands" exploits generational conflicts through the perspectives and approaches of young people. The film tells the story of Tam - a 17-year-old male student living in a poor countryside in the Central region, who is passionate about composing and forming a dance group with friends who share the same interests.
When passing the qualifying round of a talent competition, having the opportunity to perform on a big stage, Tam and her friends all aspired to become idols, trained professionally to pursue their passion. However, this caused Tam to have a fierce conflict with his father, who always thought that studying was the only way to success.
In this film, Ly Hai continues to choose the family theme with quite familiar stories, familiar with daily life, easily taking away the audience's sympathy. However, it is also this safe choice that becomes the weak point of the film.
Compared to "Flip Side 7", "Flip Side 8" was commented by many audiences to have a plot that is too predictable, even with many illogical details. The story in the film is also quite simple, the details are not dramatic, humorous or touching enough to satisfy the audience.
In addition, the film uses a main cast with quite a young audience on screen. Although their acting is not bad, with an unattractive script, this group of teenage stars is even more difficult to conquer for viewers.
As a result, despite only being shown for a few days, "Flip Side 8: Sunroof" is gradually losing its appeal. With this momentum, not only losing to "Detective Kien" in revenue, the film is unlikely to surpass the impressive figure of 482.5 billion VND that " Lat mat 7" achieved after 3 months of release in 2024.
Perhaps after a series of effects from the film, Ly Hai should slow down and prepare more carefully in all aspects when preparing for the next film project.
