Lan Hongchun’s nostalgic family drama Dear You has emerged as a surprise box office hit as it crossed $213.2m (RMB1.45bn) on Monday (June 1) to become the second biggest film in China this year so far.
The modest budget film, featuring an unknown cast and a local Teochew language, opened moderately with $550,000 (RMB3.77m) on April 30. As strong word-of-mouth spread, it rose to the top of the daily chart on May 10, which was Mother’s Day, with a cumulative $20.1m (RMB137m), and has since stayed top for over 20 consecutive days.
By the end of its third weekend (May 17), its box office had reached $75m (RMB510m), overtaking crime thriller Vanishing Point, high-profile Hong Kong franchise Cold War 1994 and The Devil Wears Prada 2, which all opened on the same Labour Day weekend. It has also beaten major US releases such as Star Wars: The Mandalorian And Grogu and The Housemaid, which opened on May 22 and May 29 respectively.
Dear You has reached $213.2m (RMB1.45bn) as of June 1, with admissions of more than 41 million, making it the country’s second biggest film this year.
It has overtaken two Chinese New Year hits: Yuen Woo Ping’s period martial arts epic Blades Of The Guardians: Wind Rises In The Desert, which took $212.9m (RMB1.44bn); and Zhang Yimou’s national security thriller Scare Out ($200.7m/RMB1.36bn), which were in second and third place respectively. Han Han’s car racing comedy Pegasus 3 remains comfortably in first place on $650m (RMB4.42bn).
Dear You 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 marks the third feature by director Lan whose first two films, 2018’s Proud Of Me and 2022’s Back To Love, grossed a combined $10.3m (RMB70m). Both were family dramas made in Teochew, a language spoken in the Chaoshan region of Guangdong Province in southern China, reflecting his cultural heritage.
The phenomenal success of Dear You is creating new opportunities for modest films. At a recent symposium in Beijing, which focussed on Dear You and Guangdong cinema, Xie Ying, vice president of Beijing Damai Entertainment Culture, said: “We will stay true to the heart of our content, continuing to discover, support, and produce works that are heartfelt, meaningful, and powerful. We aim to ensure that every sincere creator is recognised, and that more small yet exquisite, genuine and touching works reach a wider audience.”
Among the backers of Dear You are King Ant Pictures and Beijing Damai Entertainment Culture (formerly Alibaba Pictures), which is also the local distributor in mainland China and handles sales for select Asian territories and Africa. Beijing Hugoeast Media manages sales for the rest of the world.
Box office sources: Artisan Gateway and Beacon
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