Vietnamese movie enters world’s top 10 box office on weekend

The movie, released during the Lunar New Year holiday, immediately dominated the domestic box office and broke many records. According to Box Office Mojo, the global box office tracking site of IMDb, “Nha Ba Nu” recorded the sixth highest revenue in world box offices (excluding North America) from January. 27 to 29.

“Nha Ba Nu” generated over $4.3 million during the three-day period. This put the movie at sixth among the highest-grossing movies in 2023. As of Thursday, the movie had reached the VND300 billion ($12.8 million) mark in Vietnam. And it is predicted to soon reach the VND400 billion mark that “Bo Gia” (Dad, I’m Sorry), which also starred Tran Thanh, achieved in 2021.

Film experts and distributors said “Nha Ba Nu” contributed greatly to the revival of the Vietnamese box office during the Lunar New Year holidays (Tet).

According to a representative of Box Office Vietnam, a film data site, the total revenue of movies released during Tet (from January 22 to 31) is over VND350 billion, of which, “Nha Ba Nu” garnered VND251 billion and Chi Chi Em Em 2 (Sister Sister 2), a sequel to the 2019 drama, earned VND58 billion.

Of the eight films released during Tet this year, the total revenue of these two Vietnamese films accounted for for the majority (88%), while the rest were international films such as “The Amazing Maurice (VND14 billion), “Megan” (VND11 billion) ), and “Mae Nak Reborn” (VND5 billion). Representatives of large cinema franchises said that compared to 2022, the box office for Tet this year increased by 3.5 times.

“Nha Ba Nu” led the domestic box office throughout Tet. It sold the all-time highest number of pre-order tickets for Tet, for a total of 30,000 tickets. It also had the biggest opening day of any Vietnamese movie, pulling in VND25 billion.

Thanh directed, co-wrote and starred in a supporting role in the movie, in which Nu (Le Giang), the owner of a crab soup shop, is a difficult mother facing the pressure of providing for her family. Due to the heartbreaks that she has suffered in the past, she forbids her youngest daughter Ngoc Nhi (Uyen An) from having a romantic relationship.

Nhi didn’t listen to her mother and dated John (Song Luan), a Vietnamese who lives abroad. The climax comes when Nhi gets pregnant and leaves her family to live with John, but soon realizes that she made the wrong decision.