The chase of revenue and screenings of the two Vietnamese films Flip Side 8 and Detective Kien released on the same day (with early screenings from April 14) has created a dramatic and interesting war in the domestic film market during the 30.4-15.5 holiday.
Up to now, Ly Hai has always been compared to Tran Thanh as 2 forces at the box office. Because they always create dominance, break personal records, making competing films worried and cautious. Many films had to leave theaters and were sluggish when selling tickets with Tran Thanh and Ly Hai.
With the series of films Flip Side, Ly Hai built his own personal brand, becoming a popular director even though he is a singer and studied acting.
With Flip Side 8 released in theaters and Detective Kien, with available power, Ly Hais films have overwhelmed Victor Vus films in both screenings and revenue. One day, Flip Side 8 was scheduled to air nearly 5,000 times a day, while Detective Kien only had about 2,000 times.
Flip Side 8 also quickly surpassed the revenue of Detective Kien. The film crew of "Detective Kien" shared that when the film was released in theaters along with "Flip Side 8", they also determined to rank it in the top 2 box office.
However, later on, "Detective Kien" surpassed "Flip Side 8" thanks to the word-of-mouth effect from the audience in terms of quality, script and director skills. "Detective Kien" is praised for its relatively tight script, beautiful camera angles, good music, and storytelling by a skilled director.
Meanwhile, Flip Side 8 is criticized as a step backward by Ly Hai compared to Flip Side 7 with the theme of the family that helped him break theaters in the same period in 2024, achieving a revenue of 482 billion VND, only behind Mai by Tran Thanh of more than 500 billion VND.
Ly Hai approached the old topic in an old way of thinking with many prejudices about the relationship between parents and children and the conflicts between generations. The film has many details that are exaggerated towards "gedramatization", the way of storytelling is somewhat cumbersome, the characters are redundant...
Both Ly Hai and Tran Thanh in 2025 have shown signs of stagnation, no longer being the "overwhelming force" at the box office. The Four Guardians received many criticisms for its script and became the lowest-grossing film in Tran Thanhs directing career.
Producing one film a year on a regular basis is considered a too thick KPI for a director. Both Ly Hai and Tran Thanh need more time to consider the new work more carefully, it is time for them to affirm their creativity, break through, and be more novel in their next project.
In the context, the Vietnamese film market in 2025 has witnessed the strong rise of veteran directors such as Victor Vu, Johnny Tri Nguyen, Bui Thac Chuyen, Dang Thai Huyen... in addition, there is also the appearance of new "hammock directors" full of promises and potential, bringing a "strange wind" to the Vietnamese box office.
