Chinese breakout hit Dear You has sparked fresh debate in Singapore about releasing films in their original language following sold out showings of the feature in its original Teochew dialect.
The drama opened in Singapore on June 18, with only a Mandarin-dubbed version available in the city-state, where all Chinese films are required to be released in that language. This is in-line with the longstanding Speak Mandarin Campaign, launched in 1979 to establish a common language among Chinese Singaporeans whose dialects include Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka and Hainan.
However, Singapore distributor Clover Films also applied to show the film in its original Teochew dialect and sold out eight screenings, comprising 9,600 tickets.
Following this, an unprecedented 50 additional screenings were approved, 40 of which opened for sale today (June 29) and sold all 14,000 tickets in under three and a half hours. The other 10 screenings are special community showings. Golden Village Pictures, the distribution arm of Singapore’s leading cinema chain Golden Village, is co-distributor.
“We had numerous discussions with IMDA’s Classification Department regarding the release of the Teochew version,” Clover Films managing director Lim Teck told Screen. “Following overwhelming public response, with the first 16 public screenings in Teochew selling out very quickly, we promptly applied for an additional 50 screenings.”
Lim believes this success reflects strong audience demand to screen content in its original dialect and hopes Dear You will pave the way for more features to be released in in their original language, such as Cantonese films from Hong Kong.
He also claims that the language policy is outdated and no longer reflects consumer viewing habits. “Cinemas are controlled environments serving paying customers who should have the freedom to choose the content they wish to watch,” stated Lim.
“Audiences increasingly access multilingual and dialect content across various OTT and VOD platforms and yet the same content remains restricted in cinemas. It would be timely to review the existing policy to better align with today’s media landscape and consumer expectations.”
When Dear You was initially released in Mandarin only, it sparked outcry from both the public and local film industry, which questioned the language policy and by extension, the cultural heritage.
Singapore auteur Eric Khoo, whose acclaimed films include 12 Storeys and Be With Me, and Jack Neo, the city-state’s most commercially successful director with credits including the Ah Boys To Men film franchise, submitted a letter to local newspaper The Straits Times, lobbying for a new direction that they claimed would benefit the film industry.
“Screening a dialect film is now no different from screening a French or Malay film,” stated the letter. “Dialect films are not an issue on home video and streaming platforms and even on-board airplanes, so why should cinemas continue to bear the brunt of this outdated policy?
“Considering the difficulties cinemas are facing in attracting patrons in a highly competitive entertainment market, the authorities should be looking at all possible avenues to lighten the load on local operators and distributors.”
Dear You has earned $850,000 (S$1.1m) in 11 days, as of Sunday (June 28), making it the year’s third highest-grossing Chinese film, behind Yuen Woo Ping’s Blades Of The Guardians: Wind Rises In The Desert and Malaysia-Singapore comedy Liang Po Po vs Ah Beng. The latter two titles were both Lunar New Year releases and each grossed around $1.16m (S$1.5m) after three months in cinemas, according to Clover Films.
Directed by Lan Hongchun, Dear You is a family drama made on a modest budget that has taken more than $280m in China since its release on April 30, making it the second biggest film of 2026 at the local box office to date.
Featuring a largely unknown cast, it centres on a debt-ridden grandson who travels to Bangkok in search of his long absent, supposedly rich grandfather. To his surprise, his grandfather has long passed away and the money and letters sent home to his grandmother over the decades came from an unknown woman in Thailand.
Through a series of remittance letters – the only way of communication between Chinese migrants and their family back home in the pre-Internet age – the long-buried truth of his grandfather unfolds, revealing the hardships of his generation and a heartfelt story of sacrifice and devotion.
It has been widely picked up for distribution outside of Asia including in North America, Australia and New Zealand, as well as the UK, Ireland and France.
Among the backers of Dear You are King Ant Pictures and Damai Entertainment (formerly Alibaba Pictures), of which the latter also is the local distributor in mainland China and handles worldwide sales.
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