People enjoy holiday movies because they provide a break from the business of the season as they're funny, and at the same time aim at traditional and family values and have happy endings. However, making Tet movies to touch the audience's emotions so that each person can sense themselves in films requires production makers and directors to put in extra effort.

Producers of three films including Mai of director Tran Thanh, Sang den (Bright lights) directed by Hoang Tuan Cuong, Gap lai chi bau (Meeting my pregnant sister again) by Nhat Trung have announced plans to hit theaters during the 2024 Lunar New Year. These are three different stories but they have one common characteristic -laughter, the warmth of friendship and human love.

Director Nhat Trung said that he believed the audience always needs and likes stories that are light and cheerful but still bring emotion and depth to enjoy every Tet holiday.

Mai is a funny story about a romantic relationship between sisters but also has many twists and turns. Director Tran Thanh said that he respects women who have many untold stories so he wants to do something for everyone to see and feel, to empathize with and appreciate women more.

When there are many movies, the audience has many choices, and the theater revenue boom will be better instead of just one winning movie, said Director Nhat Trung. Being a director, he always supports films that are made seriously and with quality to help the film market become better.

Filmmakers face time pressure as they must finish the film before Tet holiday, so they have to race to produce to keep up with the broadcast schedule. Because film directors, actors and other people must work under time pressure. All stages in the production process from script, actor selection, production preparation, filming, and post-production are done in a state of urgency, producer Khoa Nguyen shared.

Time pressure is even more pressing on film production units. For instance, the film crew of Bright Lights is racing for post-production after filming in many provinces such as Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Tien Giang, An Giang... Producer Tuong Vi of Mai revealed that one of the biggest difficulties when producing Tet movies are the ability to ensure pre-production, production, and post-production time for the film.

Director Dang Minh Quoc said that finding topics for television films is increasingly difficult because he does it every year; plus, films must be more concise as they are screened in a short time.

As for comedy pieces, each year there are different trends. Producer Khoa Nguyen also believes that because he always aims to bring laughter, joy, and positive messages to viewers, the script content is also a factor that is carefully selected to meet the criteria.

According to producer Tuong Vi, only the high-quality movie can draw audiences to theaters. However, the quality of a film depends on many factors including script, topic, director's skills to the amount of money invested in each project. The Tet movie season is a golden time, especially for movies because this is the biggest holiday of the year.

In the top 10 highest-grossing movies in the Vietnamese film market last year, two movies of the 2023 Tet season like Mrs. Nu's House collected VND459 billion (US$ 18,830,787) and Sisters and Sisters 2 collected VND117 billion.

In particular, six other Vietnamese films have been screened during Tet, surpassing the milestone of hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong in revenue, which proves that the Tet movie season is still an attractive time, especially when Vietnamese audiences always support Vietnamese films.

Source: SGGP