Sahamongkol Film Co has acquired Thai distribution rights for Chinese hit family drama Dear You, produced by China’s Damai Entertainment, with a local theatrical release scheduled for August 6. 

The film has been a huge box office success in mainland China, massively outperforming expectations for a relatively small drama film without major stars, grossing $275M (RMB1.86BN) to date. 

Directed by Lan Hongchun, the film was made in the Chaoshan (Teochew) dialect, rather than standard Mandarin Chinese, making its success even more unprecedented. The story revolves around a grandson who travels to Thailand to find his supposedly rich grandfather, whom his grandmother has been hoping to be reunited with for decades, only to discover that the man who has been sending her money and letters is not her husband as everyone believed.

“The special thing about Dear You isn’t its large-scale production or the gathering of superstar actors, but the power of its simple, beautiful, and sincere storytelling,” said Sahamongkol announcing its acquisition of the film. 

The company described the protagonist’s journey as “a search for memories, roots, and bonds that connect people of different generations, amidst Teochew Chinese culture and the stories of overseas Chinese that reflect experiences of homesickness and love passed down through time, becoming a film that has captured the hearts of millions of viewers.”

The film has already been released theatrically in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. In Singapore it raised a debate about the government’s policy of releasing all Chinese films in Mandarin, rather than the original dialect. Trinity CineAsia is releasing the film in UK, Ireland and France, while CMC Pictures has it for North America, Australia and New Zealand.