U.S. filmgoers will soon get the chance to check out China’s biggest sleeper hit of 2026. Dear You, the family drama that was made for just $2 million but went on to earn nearly $300 million over the spring and summer, opens in select North American theaters on Sept. 4, courtesy of specialty label Well Go USA. The indie distributor and its partners released a first U.S. trailer for the film on Thursday (see it below).
A multi-generational story of love and loyalty, Dear You is co-written and directed by Lan Hongchun and told in the minority Teochew language. It stars a cast of almost entirely non-professional actors, led by Li Sitong, a 22-year-old finance graduate with no prior screen credits, as the young woman at the heart of the film’s mystery. The film draws its language and setting from Chaoshan, the corner of eastern Guangdong province around the cities of Shantou, Chaozhou and Jieyang whose Teochew-speaking communities sent millions of migrants into Southeast Asia in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The story follows a debt-ridden grandson who travels to Thailand in search of the “millionaire” grandfather who left during wartime and never returned — only to learn the man is long dead, and that the letters and remittances his grandmother received over a period of decades were sent by a generous stranger. Lan has said he spent three years interviewing more than 120 elderly Chaoshan residents and migrants, with most of the plot drawn from their accounts. The film’s supporting stars include Wang Yantong, Wu Shaoqing, Zheng Runqi and Wang Xiaohui.
