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.

Released in China on April 30 with little fanfare, the film opened to just $550,000 (RMB 3.8 million), buried under several much starrier titles that were also released for China’s busy May Day holiday weekend. But word of mouth soon took over. The film eventually climbed to No. 1 by May 10 and stayed there for more than 20 consecutive days, overtaking local crime thriller Vanishing Point, Hong Kong franchise sequel Cold War 1994 and 20th Century Studios’ The Devil Wears Prada 2, all of which had opened the same weekend with vastly bigger marketing campaigns behind them. Audiences touched by Dear You‘s heartwarming story of love and sacrifice lifted its score on review site Douban to 9.3, the highest rating for a Chinese release in more than a decade. Only Chinese New Year hit Pegasus 3 ($600 million) and Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Soccer ($338 million) have earned more at China’s box office this year.

“We’re honored to bring Dear You to North American audiences following its extraordinary success in China,” said Doris Pfardrescher, president and CEO of Well Go USA Entertainment. “Lan Hongchun has crafted a deeply moving story about family, sacrifice and the enduring power of human kindness that resonates across cultures. We know audiences will be captivated by its emotional honesty and unforgettable performances.”

Dear You was produced by Luo Zhanhong, Xie Ying, Zheng Xuanxuan and Lin Guoming. Lan co-wrote the screenplay with Leng Yang and Zheng Xuanxuan.

The film made its North American premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival in July.

With ancient Greek tale The Odyssey still slashing its way to peak box office, the sword and sorcery age remains a potent genre for Hollywood.

Now, Paramount Primal, Paramount’s low-budget genre label formed by producers J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, has picked up Tower Defense, an original Medieval fantasy from longtime adventure movie scribe Evan Daugherty.

The spec script sale comes with no filmmaker or producer attachments.

Plot details are being kept in the castle keep, but it is being described as a Medieval and supernatural fantasy twist on the concept seen in the early John Carpenter movie Assault on Precinct 13. The 1976 exploitation movie was set in a police station on the eve of the building’s retirement. It told of a group of people, including a police officer and a prisoner, who must survive a brutal gang attack. The movie was inspired by the John Wayne Western Rio Bravo.

The aim is to make the feature R-rated.

Louis Winters is overseeing the project for Paramount Primal.

Daugherty has been involved with some of the bigger franchise movies in the 2010s. He may be best known for writing Snow White and the Huntsman, a spec that brought an action fantasy bent to the well-known fairy tale. Universal made the movie, which starred Kirsten Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron. It went on to gross nearly $400 million worldwide.

He subsequently wrote the Lionsgate YA movie Divergent, the live-action/CG hybrid Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Paramount, and the Tomb Raider reboot that starred Alicia Vikander for MGM and Warner Bros. Collectively, his films have grossed more than $1.5 billion worldwide.

Paramount Primal is been hustling since being established late 2025. It is in production on its first feature, Boys for Life, a comedy that Paramount has dated for April 9, 2027. In July, it acquired an original erotic thriller spec script titled Sweet Spot by screenwriting social media influencer Nic Curcio and his wife Kirby Gladstein. And it made waves in July when it picked up the domestic screen rights to Wes Craven’s original A Nightmare on Elm Street script.

Daugherty is repped by Verve, Alibi Entertainment and McKuin Frankel.