New and frustrating shortages
In the TV series that aired, we must mention: "7 years of not getting married, I will break up", "My father, who stays", "Stolen happiness"...
"7 Years of Not Getting Married Will break Up" is adapted from Secret Love, a famous Korean drama in 2013. At that time, the audience was still favoring the motif of careless love, overcoming barriers, rich men falling in love with poor girls. The female character is often gentle to the point of being weak, when in trouble, she can only wait for the male lead to help.
When Vietnamese filmmakers re-implemented the project, the female lead Thien An in "7 years of not getting married and getting a breakdown" gathered all the typical features of the Korean film trend from 10 years ago. Thien An is always devoted to love, blind to the point of being willing to admit responsibility for causing a fatal accident even though her boyfriend was the driver, and then went to prison to replace him. However, the construction of the main character is weak and unreasonable, making viewers angry. If it was 2013, the type of gentle and kind character was very popular, now the audience's taste in watching movies has shifted to the type of strong female character. Therefore, the more you watch, the more uncomfortable the audience is and the more frustrated they are with this project.
In another direction, the film My Father, the Remains is a remake of the famous Chinese work In the Names of the Family. According to VTV Ratings, the film has maintained its position as the most watched TV series on VTV channels for 4 consecutive months.
Although it received good reviews, My Father, the Remains is considered a film that has caused many frustrations for the audience in building unreasonable and unlogical characters. The project is considered not to have many breakthroughs compared to the original when many details such as being whole from the original, not having creativity, and being remade more modern.
Most recently, "Stolen Happiness" - remade from the Korean project "Clean Heart". The film just ended at the end of May 2025 with 5 billion views on digital platforms. However, the number of views did not come with positive feedback, but on the contrary, the project received a wave of criticism from the audience for building the villain character that was unreasonable.
Although evil, deceitful, and dishonest, the villain character always meets good luck, is blindly loved and trusted by many people. Meanwhile, the gentle, honest, and very loyal character is always pushed into unfair situations. The more you watch, the more upset the audience is not because of emotion or empathy but because they feel oppressed.
remake movies are not bad but you need to know how to exploit them
From a positive perspective, filmmakers believe that remake films are not a bad direction for film producers. Because taking advantage of famous film scripts abroad will somewhat attract domestic audiences. The audience will be curious about this film and there are comparisons between the two versions.
Original films always have a loyal audience, so when the Vietnamese filmmaker makes a film, he will take advantage of this audience.
However, in the opposite direction, film experts believe that if not handled well, remake films are just a "way of travel" for Vietnamese filmmakers at a time when there is a lack of quality scripts.
The fact that remake films have been attacking Vietnamese screens has made many people worry about the already passive Vietnamese script market becoming even more passive.
That is when investors only need a safe work to make a profit soon, actors just want to follow a famous work, the screenwriter only relies on a pre-made formula and then stir-fryes it but it is not in line with the current trend of watching films of the audience.
Despite the controversy, remake films are still chosen by Vietnamese producers for their profitability and safety. These projects often attract high views and stabilize advertising profits. However, if they continue to follow this formula without creativity, the audience will gradually turn their backs. To conquer viewers, remake films need to be suitable for Vietnamese culture, while encouraging purely Vietnamese scripts to reduce dependence on foreign films.
