"In my memory, my mother is always a middle-aged woman, but once she too was a blossoming girl," says Jia Xiaoling, the main character of Hi, Mom, the new Chinese top-grossing film by a female director.

The words moved Su Cong, a 35-year-old mother of one who lives in Beijing, to tears. The moment she was out of the cinema, Su called her mother, who was at home, making dinner for the family. Then she began telling her about the film, saying they should watch it together.

In the time-travel comedy, a daughter returns to the past to help her mother, who is young and single, to find a better husband and change her life.

"I felt the film would remind my mom of her youth. Maybe she would also think of my grandmother," Su told Beijing Review.

Hi, Mom was inspired by its director Jia Ling's own life. Her mother died when Jia was 19 and today, while Jia enjoys the stature of being one of the most popular comediennes in the male-dominated crosstalk industry, a traditional Chinese art form where the characters exchange banter on social issues, she also feels sad that her mother isn't there to share her success. This sorrow gives a melancholy streak to Hi, Mom, which marks Jia's debut as a director.

The film with its theme of family love struck a chord with the audience, making it the dark horse hit of the 2021 Spring Festival season. Three days after its premiere on February 12, Hi, Mom topped the box office. By February 23, it had grossed 4.25 billion yuan ($658 million), catapulting to the fourth place in China's entire box-office history, surpassing Marvel's blockbuster Avengers: Endgame released on the Chinese mainland in 2019.

"I want to remind the viewers that each mother is an individual who deserves care and love though many tend to overlook her and her dedication to the family," Jia told ThePaper.cn.

The success of Hi, Mom and other films released during the Spring Festival holiday heralded the reemergence of the Chinese film industry from the shadow of the pandemic.

A visual feast

Besides Hi, Mom, this year's Spring Festival season produced a wide range of genres, from comedy to animation and more, which meant something for everyone. "For people, watching movies during the festival is just like eating dumplings. It is a part of the celebrations," Zhang Wei, Executive Vice President of China Film Critics Association, told Beijing Review.

Detective Chinatown 3, the third installment in the Detective Chinatown comedy-mystery series that has been well received in China, was another highlight of the Spring Festival movie season. Despite mixed reviews, the adventures of two amateur detectives who go to Tokyo to investigate a crime after their earlier success in Bangkok and New York, took the second spot among top-grossers, raking in over 4 billion yuan ($619 million).

Zhang attributed the success to the team's ambition to make a Chinese detective film series, which has immense potential in the Chinese film market, and the audience support it evoked. He said other filmmakers could learn from the phenomenon.

"This is in accordance with the film industry's development trends and meets viewers' expectations. With their familiar characters and plot settings, such series establish their brand and become a guaranteed box-office hit," he said.

A Writer's Odyssey, a fantasy that will remind viewers of the Harry Potter films and The Lord of the Rings with its tale of a band of people who set out to end the tyranny of a despotic lord, attracted a substantial number of young viewers and claimed the third spot. Supported ably by sophisticated production technology, it was the first independently made Chinese fantasy film.

"This is something that young people will like, a well-constructed and exciting story told with speed and punch. Also, the production team used a lot of technology, showing domestic filmmakers have made breakthroughs in content and advanced technology," Zhou Xing, a professor of the School of Arts and Communication, Beijing Normal University, told Beijing Review.

In the 2020 Spring Festival season, due to COVID-19, a new film on the mother-son relationship, Lost in Russia, dispensed with the traditional release in theaters and instead shifted to online release. It proved the Internet can also be a viable channel for film releases. Following the trend, this season 40 films were released on video platforms. They have been viewed more than 440 million times.

"Movie teams should utilize online platforms, which are an important approach to share art with all. As we advance digitally, film distributors need to adjust their strategies amid the changes," Zhou said.

However, Zhang does not think that online platforms can still be the primary channel for new releases in the Spring Festival season. Films targeting the cinema and those made for the Internet have different features, profit approaches and promotion mechanisms.

Ups and downs

While Hi, Mom and Detective Chinatown 3 did roaring business, some new releases did not fare so well, including Endgame. Starring Andy Lau, one of the most commercially successful Hong Kong actors, it is a black comedy about an assassin, played by Lau, who swaps identity with an unsuccessful actor. The action comedy did not do well in the pre-sale of tickets.

"We need a mechanism to ensure all films get showtime," Zhou said. "Thanks to the development of the Internet and big data, people can get information and reviews through film review websites such as Douban and social media. Word of mouth is also helping quality films that did not get high viewership survive in the fierce competition."

Some people said the ticket prices were higher. Chu Donglei, manager of the Poly International Cinema in Beijing, said cinemas in the capital were asked to cap their seating capacity at 50 percent from February 11 to 17 as a precaution. Therefore, there were fewer tickets and a higher demand as a large population stayed put in the city. All these things led to the prices being upped.

But Zhou thinks the increase was reasonable and will come down after the holiday. The positive side was that "higher prices raise people's expectations, which can drive the industry to make better films to win the box office and public praise in the future," he said.

Spring of Chinese films

According to the China Film Administration, the box-office revenue for the period from February 11 to 17 hit nearly 8 billion yuan ($1.24 billion). Compared to the festival period in 2019, it was up by 32.47 percent.

"The figure surpassed the record in 2019, indicating homegrown films are doing a good job in heating up the domestic market," Zhou said.

He also said the recovery was a big surprise for many industry insiders and attributed it to the progress made by domestic films, public support, as well as efficient epidemic control.

"We still face the threat of COVID-19 but the film industry is operating in an orderly way. That is a guarantee of profit, and provides an experience for global industrial recovery," Chu said.

However, Zhang thinks since production last year was severely affected by the epidemic, there could be a shortage of new films in the coming months.

"I hope movie companies can return to making new productions as soon as possible," he said.

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

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