Remake film project causes controversy but still attracts audiences

Many remakes of foreign scripts such as "7 Years of Not Married Will Break Up" and "My Father, the One Who Stays" have caused controversy due to lack of creativity and illogical character development, although they still attract viewers.

Movie “My Father, the One Who Stayed”. Photo: Provided by the film producer

Lack of novelty and frustration

Among the TV series that have been broadcast, we must mention: "7 years of not getting married will break up", "My father, the one who stays", "Stolen happiness"...

“7 Years of Not Married Will Break Up” was adapted from Secret Love, a hit Korean movie in 2013. At that time, the audience was still fond of the motif of tragic love, overcoming barriers, rich guys falling in love with poor girls. The female characters were often gentle and kind to the point of being weak, when facing difficulties, they could only wait for the male lead to help.

When Vietnamese filmmakers remade the project, the female lead Thien An in "7 Years of Not Married Will Break Up" gathered all the typical characteristics of the Korean film trend from 10 years ago. Thien An is always devoted to love, blind to the point of being willing to admit to causing a fatal accident even though her boyfriend was the driver, and then went to jail instead of him. However, the construction of the weak, irrational main character made viewers angry. If in 2013, the type of gentle and innocent character was very popular, now, the audience's taste in movies has shifted to the type of strong female character. Therefore, the more they watch, the more uncomfortable and frustrated the audience is with this project.

On the other hand, the film “My Father, the One Who Stays” is a remake of the Chinese hit “In the Name of the Family”. According to VTV Ratings, the film has maintained its position as the most watched TV series on VTV channels for 4 consecutive months of broadcasting.

Despite receiving good views, “My Father, the One Who Stays” is considered a film that causes a lot of frustration for the audience in building unreasonable and illogical characters. The project is considered not to have many breakthroughs compared to the original when many details seem to be copied from the original, without creativity, making it more fresh.

The most recent is “Stolen Happiness” - a remake of the Korean project “Pure Heart”. The film just ended at the end of May 2025 with 5 billion views on digital platforms. However, the views did not come with positive feedback, but on the contrary, the project received a wave of criticism from the audience for creating an unreasonable villain.

Despite being cruel, cunning, and deceitful, the villain is always lucky, loved by many people, and blindly trusted. Meanwhile, the gentle, honest, and affectionate character is always pushed into unfair situations. The more the audience watches, the more upset they become, not because they are moved or sympathetic, but because they feel oppressed.

Remake movies are not bad but need to know how to exploit

On the positive side, filmmakers believe that remakes are not a bad move for film producers. Because using famous foreign film scripts will attract domestic audiences. Audiences will be curious to watch the film and compare the two versions.

Original films always have a loyal audience, so when Vietnamese filmmakers remake them, they can take advantage of this audience.

However, on the other hand, film experts believe that if not handled properly, remake films will only be a "dead end" for Vietnamese filmmakers at a time when there is a lack of quality scripts.

The massive influx of remakes hitting Vietnamese screens has made many people worry that the already passive Vietnamese script market is now even more passive.

That's when investors just need a safe work to quickly reap profits, actors just want to follow a famous work, screenwriters just rely on a ready-made formula and then rehash it but it doesn't suit the current movie-watching trends of the audience.

Despite the controversy, remakes are still chosen by Vietnamese producers for their profit and safety. These projects often attract high viewership and stable advertising revenue. However, if this formula is continued without creativity, audiences will gradually turn away. To win over viewers, remakes need to be suitable for Vietnamese culture, while at the same time, pure Vietnamese scripts are encouraged to reduce dependence on foreign films.

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/du-an-phim-remake-gay-tranh-cai-nhung-van-hut-khan-gia-3368275.html