As of March 30, the movie "The Magnet of Honey" after 3 days of screening in Chinese cinemas only achieved 7.792 million CNY in revenue.
Meanwhile, with an investment cost exceeding 100 million CNY, the platform predicts that the total revenue of the film will only be about 16.924 million CNY.
The work has a talented cast, including Vien Tuyen, Canh Lac, Ninh Tinh, Du Phi Hong, Tran Pulse, Te Khe...
The screenwriter is Ly Tuong, who wrote high-scoring scripts such as "Lap Xuan" (8.4 points), "Khong Tuoc" (8.2 points), all of which are prominent films on women's topics. Therefore, "The Magnet of Honey" was once highly anticipated.
However, on the first day, the film only grossed 3.7238 million CNY, much lower than "Plan to Rescue" (23.92 million CNY), although this film had a lower screen time.
Even "Honey's Needle" is inferior to the work "I, Hua Kha", which only has 4.3% screening and is still showing early.
According to Sohu, "Kim châm của mật ong" also has advantages, especially the fact that the screenwriter built a rare "villainous woman" image in Chinese films - the character Chi Ninh played by Vien Tuyen (the next part reveals the film's content).
Chi Ninh is an agricultural researcher with a lonely personality, falling in love with writer Khuu Dat. To get him, she killed many people, even her best friend - Kham Thien Thien (played by Ninh Tinh).
Chi Ninh is intelligent but extreme, because of a vague love, she becomes distorted, crazy and eventually self-destructs. The screenwriter did not "whitewash" this character, for example, adding an element of unhappy family to justify. Chi Ninh is a true "villain", without any excuses.
Vien Tuyen's acting is rated positively, she excellently portrays the character's madness.
In fact, "Kim châm của mật ong" has been "covered in tarpaulins" for 10 years. Initially, the work was titled "Không có tình yêu nào khác" (No Other Love), directed by Trieu Vy and wrapped in June 2016.
But immediately after that, the male lead got involved in a major scandal, causing the film crew to replace other people and shoot more extended scenes. In 2021, Zhao Wei was suddenly banned from broadcasting, causing the film to continue to "shelve".
After Zhao Wei's director position was transferred to producer Yuan Mei and the film was renamed, the new work was approved for release on March 28, 2026.
Chinese media commented that the film is a rare, bold work on the topic of female crime, but unfortunately it is somewhat outdated.
10 years ago, such character building could be considered pioneering, but now it is 2026. The biggest problem of the film is that it cannot make the audience sympathize.
Chi Ninh's motive for continuously committing crimes is because of Khau Dat - a hypocritical, arrogant, promiscuous, arrogant and talented man. She is jealous of all women related to him and wants them to disappear.
In this era, it is very difficult for audiences to believe that an intellectual woman can love a man so madly, even not regretting to commit crimes and self-destruction. This is not consistent with the consciousness and emotional logic of modern women.
On the other hand, reshooting and using AI as a substitute caused reactions to the work. The technology of AI as a substitute in the past cannot be compared to the present, so the image quality is opposed by many viewers.
