The attraction of "Ghost Lamp": Without a box office star, can Tran Thanh still be usurped?

The 2025 Tet movie season seemed to have ended when it had found two dark horses at the box office - Tran Thanh's The Four Guardians and Thu Trang's Billion Dollar Kiss . However, the appearance of a rookie has changed the throne of the experienced "players". That is Hoang Nam's Ghost Lamp .

Without any famous names, directorial faces or actors to guarantee the box office, the 41-year-old director's debut work not only surpassed the screening time of Tran Thanh's film, but also closely followed the revenue of Thu Trang's film.

Box office "twist"

Ghost Lamp borrows the situation of the Tale of Kieu in Nguyen Du's Legend of Kieu . Hoang Nam's film exploits that famous folk material and brings it into a mysterious spiritual space.

The main character is Thuong (played by Diem Trang), a young woman whose husband is a soldier. At home with her child every night, she points to the shadow on the wall and says it is the boy's father to ease his sadness. But this is not an ordinary oil lamp, when lit, it accidentally becomes a guide for the spirits and evil spirits from the other world to return to the human world and commit evil deeds. When the shaman Lieu (Hoang Kim Ngoc) gets involved, the identity and motive of that spirit gradually becomes clear.

Compared to its competitors, Ghost Lights does not have famous directors like Tran Thanh, Thu Trang, prominent actors like Kaity Nguyen or beauty queens with large fan bases like: Tieu Vy, Ky Duyen, Thien An...

On the contrary, the film features not-so-famous faces, who are entering the film industry for the first time: Diem Trang is a student majoring in tourism and culture, Hoang Kim Ngoc is a content creator on Facebook, Tuan "Mo" is acting in a movie for the first time...

The crew of the film "Ghost Lamp" (Photo: Character's Facebook).

But why is the work still attractive enough to create a series of unexpected "twists" at the theater?

According to Box Office Vietnam's reference data, as of 11am on February 11, the film earned nearly 60 billion VND, surpassing Thu Trang's Silver Kiss (which is also a notable comeback) and Tran Thanh's The Four Guardians to take the No. 1 spot in box office revenue for the day.

At the time when Ghost Lights reached the top 1 in box office revenue, the number of screenings of the film was less than 1/2 of the 2 heavyweight competitors. After settling in the 2nd place in revenue at the end of the day, Hoang Nam's film still earned 10 billion VND, marking the "sold out" days at many cinemas after that.

"The fact that there is no box office star in the film but Ghost Light still attracts audiences is truly a surprising factor," said director, Meritorious Artist Bui Trung Hai.

According to him, the reason may be because Vietnamese audiences no longer care too much about which actors will play in the film, but they may have tended to choose films based on genre and plot...

According to this director, one of the factors that contributed to the success of The Dark Souls is its ability to create diversity in the menu of Tet movies this year. Mr. Hai said that the quality of the movie may still be controversial, but it clearly created diversity and difference compared to the other 3 movies - all of which are romantic comedies.

"Ghost Lamp" is leading the box office revenue for the day (left) and top 2 box office revenue for the 3-day weekend, from February 7 to February 9 (Photo: Box Office Vietnam).

Talking to Dan Tri reporter, expert Nguyen Phong Viet frankly expressed: "I am really surprised that a work with many controversies, nothing outstanding from the face of the director, actors to the poor quality of the film script like Ghost Light, has achieved such good box office revenue. That is something I find very difficult to explain.

Maybe it's because the audience is looking for a strange spiritual food, different from the other films on the market.

This expert also believes that with the current situation, the Tet film market in the coming years will see many new faces on the race track and no one will be afraid of Tran Thanh anymore.

Talking about Ghost Lights , film critic Le Hong Lam acknowledged the dedication of the Ha Giang -born director and the plus points of the film.

"The film was very meticulous in designing the set on the already beautiful background of the Cao Bang region. Hoang Nam - who simultaneously held 5 positions as producer, creative director, editor, screenwriter and director - did not hesitate to invest in his first work to the point of having to sell 2 apartments to invest in the film.

His boldness is now paying off because the film is indeed visually impressive, although some of the special effects are still quite good but acceptable.

The art design is creative and adheres to tradition to praise national culture. Many cultural features and customs of the North are cleverly incorporated into the film. The costume design is also very elaborate and the cinematography creates emotions with many creative shots. The sound and music also leave a mark," the critic commented.

The expert also shared that what he didn't like was that the script was a bit too safe and there wasn't a single character that really stood out.

"Among the cast of unknown actors (in the film industry), I like the role of the shaman Hoang Kim Ngoc," said critic Le Hong Lam.

Hoang Kim Ngoc - an amateur actress - is considered a plus for the film (Photo: character's Facebook).

The advantages of "play month" and "spiritual food" are different

In addition to not having a box office star, Ghost Light has overcome many questionable factors such as: Horror films are not suitable for showing at the beginning of the year, YouTubers who turn to making movies will not achieve the desired quality...

In fact, the horror genre itself became one of the key factors for the film to achieve revenue beyond expectations.

Commenting on the success of Ghost Lights , director Meritorious Artist Bui Trung Hai said that horror is a trend among Vietnamese audiences in the second half of 2024. Many horror films with ghost elements, after censorship was loosened, have created a certain attraction for audiences. Films such as Cam, Ma da, Quy cau ... all have a revenue of about 100 billion VND. Ghost Lights is a continuation of that trend.

"However, we must also be aware that Tet is a special time, when the audience's demand for movies is very high with the mentality of "January is the month to have fun". Therefore, it is understandable that Tet movie revenue is very high.

Next week, there will be Hollywood movies coming out such as Captain America: New World Order and some other movies, I think the competition at the box office will be more intense. That will be a challenging step to see whether the initial box office success of Ghost Lights at this time is stable or not," said director, Meritorious Artist Bui Trung Hai.

The movie "Ghost Lamp" is creating surprises in this year's Tet movie race (Photo: Provided by the film crew).

According to audience comments after several screenings in Hanoi, the film's content is quite simple and predictable, causing viewers to lose interest in the later parts.

Audience member Ho Nghi (30 years old) commented: "The first half of the movie is quite attractive because the climax gradually increases, the second half is no longer tense, so I know the good guys will win." Audience member My Le (22 years old) said: "The motif of the vengeful spirit returning to take revenge should be more complicated, with more hidden plots, because right now it is mainly to prove that the shaman is a good, upright person."

Like critic Le Hong Lam, screenwriter Nguyen Thi Hong Ngát also acknowledged that the film scored points in many elements and still had some limitations in the script.

According to her, The Ghost Lamp scores points for its spiritual elements, the creative element of the oil lamp opening the door to the underworld; the fascinating martial arts duel between good and evil; the application of folklore, attractive nursery rhymes, costumes and sounds contribute significantly to creating the mysterious and supernatural quality of the film; creating a happy ending for a famous story... Ms. Ngát also reserved a special compliment for the role of the shaman played by Hoang Kim Ngoc.

"I appreciate the director's dedication, living in the North, writing the script, directing and producing the film all by himself with money from selling his house. This alone makes the audience admire him and is also a factor that needs to be seen to support him.

Even though the film still has a few flaws in the script, such as suspecting the wife of being a bit hasty when she just returned - the special effects are not very good, the earthen walls are still new in many places... but the audience is still drawn into the story," said screenwriter Nguyen Thi Hong Ngát.

Dantri.com.vn

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giai-tri/suc-hut-den-am-hon-khong-ngoi-sao-phong-ve-van-soan-ngoi-tran-thanh-20250211122227942.htm