"Red Rain" leaves theaters on September 29. The film has made a special mark in the film market in 2025. The film is so popular with audiences that until the final screenings, the screens were still filled, with a revenue of more than 4 billion VND/day.
Red Rain has achieved unprecedented feats in the history of Vietnamese box office, the film reached nearly 714 billion VND when it stopped showing in theaters, making director Dang Thai Huyen the director with the highest-grossing film of all time.
"Red Rain" also brought the cast to light. Before "Red Rain", they were all little-known names, even unfamous.
Inviting less famous actors to participate is considered a wise strategy of director Dang Thai Huyen. When names that were still... unfamiliar to the audience such as Nguyen Phuong Nam, Lam Thanh Nha, Ha Anh, Steven Nguyen, Tran Gia Huy, Nguyen Hung... appeared in the early stages of promoting the film, many audiences questioned whether the film could be "hot" with such names that were difficult to sell tickets.
However, Red Rain released in theaters, with an emotional story inspired by the 81 days and nights war to protect Quang Tri ancient citadel in 1972 received a storm of compliments from the audience and experts. The cast is highly appreciated. The realistic performance of squad 1 made unfamiliar names new stars at the box office.
It was these strange faces with little fame that made "Red Rain" more realistic. made the audience feel like the cast and soldiers were walking into the battlefield when watching the film, not the transformation and acting of the screen stars.
For more than a month "Red Rain" dominated the box office, the little-known cast became real stars. They were warmly welcomed by the audience. The cast went wherever they wanted to create a crowd effect. The appeal of the cast is compared to the "anh trai say hi" and "anh trai vu ngan cong gai" that they once had.
The names became familiar, became the focus of discussion, and were a topic on all social networking forums. Together, they appeared at the most important events of the country in the historic August and September months.
From small roles to the main roles of squadron 1, all show their own appeal. Hua Vi Van, Do Nhat Hoang, Steven Nguyen, Nguyen Hung, Lam Thanh Nha, Ha Anh, Nguyen Phuong Nam... all appeared at the A80 parade to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the National Day. They also appeared at large-scale national concerts. The song "Con gi dep hon" by actor/songwriter Nguyen Hung (playing Hai in Mua do) became a new musical phenomenon, attracting tens of millions of views on digital platforms.
Famousness has come too quickly. The question is, how will the cast who just scored with "Red Rain" continue their journey of acting after gaining glory?
The acting profession is always harsh with relentless elimination. Many actors have fallen into the "stage-dead" trap of becoming famous too quickly, or having resoundingly successful roles.
Minh Thu was once used as a typical example when "Gai Nhay" brought rain to the cinemas. After the success of Gai Thuc, despite trying very hard to escape the role and find a new mark in her acting career, Minh Thu still dyed out with the title Minh Thu Gai Nhu.
Ninh Duong Lan Ngoc has now become an entertainment artist, a "game show artist" by spending a lot of time on entertainment shows. Originally an actress, Lan Ngoc is now only highly appreciated for her role as Nuong in Canh Dong Bat Tan released in 2010. 15 years have passed, many opinions say that Lan Ngoc invested in game shows without investing to get more roles and make a new mark in the profession.
With the acting profession, gaining fame is difficult, "growing fame" becomes even more difficult.
After gaining fame and love from the audience, their next challenge is whether to go the long way or not, how to make a new mark, to overcome the great shadow in Red Rain.
