The Vietnamese film race at the end of August and the beginning of September witnessed strong differentiation. While Huynh Lap's "Summer Break, Afraid of Retirement" maintained the leading position and approached the 200 billion VND mark, two Vietnamese film rivals of the same period, "Quý tử vượt giàu" and "Hộ linh tráng sĩ: Bí ẩn mộ vua Đinh", could not create a corresponding chasing position.
Huynh Lap chooses the "easiest" story
The first difference lies at the threshold of approach. "Summer vacation fears retirement" raises conflicts that almost any family can recognize: young people want to prove themselves, the elderly have a different way of thinking than their children and grandchildren, generational gaps and conflicts in the family.
Audiences do not need to understand the historical context, the complex world of characters or a new information system to enter the film. This is a clear advantage when placed next to "Ho Linh Trang Si".
Director Nguyen Phan Quang Binh's film must perform many tasks at the same time: building the Dinh Dynasty setting, explaining the story, introducing characters, creating a historical world and developing action lines.
The fact that the producer then edited the film, cutting about 20 minutes to increase the tempo further shows that the original version had problems in maintaining the experience of the general audience.
Compared to "Ho Linh Trang Si", "Quy Tu Vuot Rich" is the noteworthy opponent to see Huynh Lap's advantage.
The two films both use laughter, family stories and characters close to life. But Huynh Lap has one thing that was built before the film was released: the audience clearly recognizes his style.
From "Ai chết giơ tay", "Pháp sư mù" to "Nhà gia tiên", Huynh Lap continuously travels on the intersection between comedy, spirituality, family and emotions. Audiences buying tickets for "Summer vacation fear retirement" therefore do not enter a completely new brand. They partly know what they will receive.
This is the difference between a movie selling the story and a filmmaker who has started selling his personal brand. "Nha gia tien" (Fatherland House) reached more than 240 billion VND before, further helping Huynh Lap have a class of audiences willing to try the next product.
Win before the September 2 holiday
Summer vacation fears retirement" also has a time advantage. The film generated revenue and a word-of-mouth effect even before the market entered the National Day holiday. When new competitors joined, Huynh Lap's film already had a position on the revenue chart, with large screenings and high recognition.
A movie with good ticket sales is prioritized by theaters. Many favorable slots help revenue continue to increase. High revenue creates more discussion on social networks and makes audiences curious. Meanwhile, movies released later must both compete with audiences and win screening slots.
Production scale does not determine audience size
Audiences do not necessarily choose the most expensive film, with the largest setting or the most ambitious. They choose the film that makes it easiest for them to decide to buy tickets.
At this point, Huynh Lap has three advantages at the same time: a personal brand that has been built for many years, a story with a low approach threshold and a favorable release time.
Summer vacation fears retirement" therefore does not win "Quý tử vượt giàu" or "Hộ linh tráng sĩ" just because of the film itself. Huynh Lap enters the race with an audience ecosystem that has been accumulated from YouTube, social networks, "Nhà gia tiên" and previous projects.
High revenue but the film still causes controversy
However, box office advantage does not mean "Summer vacation fears retirement" is completely convincing in terms of expertise.
One of the controversial points is that Huynh Lap puts too many materials into the same work: comedy, family, spiritual, post-war trauma... The continuous transition between colors makes the film sometimes lack consistency in rhythm.
The work has not yet completely escaped the web-drama color, while the conflict lines are deployed densely, but not every line is deeply explored.
The script is still overwhelming, some details are lengthy; the message "What if life is not brilliant?" is mentioned a lot instead of being conveyed naturally, and minor conflicts are pushed to the end.
Visual effects are also a limitation when the film expands to larger-scale war and spiritual scenes.
