At the end of 2002, Hero, the lavish historical production shot by famed director Zhang Yimou, made people realize the great potential of the domestic film market during the holiday season. It created the biggest buzz since holiday season films were first popularly introduced, attracting numerous young lovers, film critics, as well as Zhang's fans to see the film. With praise and criticism sticking to their own viewpoints, a heated argument on Hero began in the print media and on the Internet. Was it just expensive, slick garbage? Was it clearly more than that? As a result, the popular film continued to attract bigger audiences. According to some, and although a little cynical, developing an opinion of the film was one of the pleasures of seeing it.

However, not all films during the holiday season were quite as popular as Hero. Several films were attended with generous appreciation but generally the season was a sobering experience for filmmakers that depend on seasonal box office successes. There was a kind of recovery with Cell Phone (Feng Xiaogang), that lead popularity in the new year of 2004, as well as films like Jade Goddess of Mercy (Hong Kong-based director Ann Hui On-Wah), and Sound of Colors (co-produced by Wong Kar Wai and director Ma Weihao) creating the lift the season needed.

Celebration films vs. holiday season

In 2000, film producers increasingly realized the likely success of holiday season films and soon began to promote it as a special time for cinema. It was taken for granted that a formulaic seasonal film could be made easily and be certain of box office success. Screen producers and writers racked their brains for a term for the seasonal "feel good", often comedy, film. Eventually they called them the sentimental "New Year celebration films" in Chinese. The audience was thus given a somewhat misleading impression of what this referred to and became more confused about what "celebration films" actually offered.

The tradition of holiday season films find precedence in the Hollywood holiday film season, where blockbuster love story classics and Christian morality tales from the 1930s and 1940s are shown on TV and the cinemas market "feel good" films that incorporate Christmas or New Year into their storyline. Hollywood films commonly associated with this season are black and white and period classics such as, White Christmas (1954), It's A Wonderful Life (1947), and Holiday Inn (1942).

In China, which movies deserve the title of holiday season films? Generally, the holiday season starts mid-December and ends with the close of the Chinese lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, in late January, or early February, depending on the year.

Whether or not films shown in China in the period should have a particular theme or flavor, opposing thoughts do exist on the subject.

Feng Xiaogang -- all films are "holiday season" films

The concept of holiday season films gained popularity in China thanks to director Feng Xiaogang's The Dream Factory (1997). Feng says that "any movie can be called a holiday season film as long as it is shown during the holiday season."

According to Feng, the term for holiday season film in Chinese, "New Year celebration film" was created by the media and film producers in order to hype and promote the needs of the Chinese film industry at that time, even though the average Chinese person was generally unconcerned about film genre. As for his own films, Feng says that none of his films are comedies except for Sorry Baby (1999). Instead of comedy, he takes Funeral of the Famous Star (2001) as bitter irony. And Cell Phone (2003) that is currently hitting cinemas across the country does not fall easily into a genre, Feng says, as it includes both laughter and tears. He is however confident the film is capable of touching the audience.

Zhang Yimou -- comedies that make people happy

Director Zhang Yimou holds a different view. He believes that holiday season films have a particular meaning. An atmosphere of rejoicing and festivity should be seen in films featured in the holiday season.

Zhang's Happy Times (2000) was once regarded as a holiday season film, but he says that it was actually just a film shown at the end of the year, instead of a deliberately marketed "celebration" movie. Apart from a number of films shown at the close of the year, he added, genuine holiday season films are quite rare.

Expert opinion

Professor Zhou Qingshan, from School of Journalism and Communication of Peking University thinks that people usually feel pressure at the year's end and comedies bring a relaxing and happy feeling to welcome in and enter the New Year.

Professor Yin Hong from Tsinghua University thinks otherwise. Standing by director Feng Xiaogang, he believes holiday season celebration films have nothing to do with the genre of a film, but films shown over a particular period, namely the Chinese New Year holiday season. Accordingly, there is no limitation for whether the films should be comedies or tragedies.

Professor Yin says that while watching films, people often pursue a festive feeling. So as is common practice, many films give priority to comedy. Except for filmic pathos, most films conclude with a bright ending so filmgoers can feel content at its end.

Yin Hong noted that holiday season films have recently encountered setbacks. Like the whole film market in China, it is still in a disorderly state with many poor quality films on show.

In his opinion, currently filmmakers in China are in dire need of film industry organization and support. In many other countries, film production companies make thorough investigation of the actual conditions for showing a film including audience rating figures, realistic showing times, seasonal popularity surveys etc. They select stories and actors in line with seasonal marketing and can usually expect good results in return. In China, this aspect of the industry is still in its infancy, other than the good planning technique of the likes of Feng Xiaogang, who masters the holiday season box office.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao and Daragh Moller, January 18, 2004)