2026-07-26
Dear You Extended to August 31
Dear You received a third mainland film-key extension on July 20, moving the current screening deadline from July 31 to August 31, 2026. The July 31 date belonged to the previous extension and is now outdated for mainland cinemas. The announcement also placed the mainland box office near RMB 2 billion. This deadline should not be applied to overseas theatres: Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, North America, Britain, Ireland, Japan and festival screenings each follow their own local schedules.
August 31 is the current mainland deadline
The current mainland screening deadline is August 31, 2026. The third film-key extension was announced on July 20, replacing the earlier July 31 deadline. Any viewer guide that still presents July 31 as the latest mainland end date is therefore one extension behind, even if that date was correct when the previous announcement appeared.
A film key is part of mainland digital cinema distribution. Extending it allows eligible mainland cinemas to continue scheduling the film, but it does not promise that every cinema will offer a session every day. Viewers still need to check local listings, especially as the number and timing of screenings can narrow late in a long theatrical run.
The third extension followed a long run
The July 20 announcement described this as the film's third extension and placed its cumulative mainland box office at about RMB 1.994 billion, close to the RMB 2 billion mark. That figure is roughly two billion yuan, not fifteen or twenty billion yuan; keeping the Chinese unit yi and the English unit billion aligned prevents a tenfold error.
The extension is best read as evidence of continued availability, not as a new opening. Dear You had already premiered in mainland China on April 30 and passed RMB 1.5 billion in early June. By late July, the question was how long cinemas could keep screening it, not whether the film had reached theatres for the first time.
Overseas theatres use separate schedules
The August 31 film-key deadline applies to mainland China. Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Britain, Ireland and Japan opened through their own announced waves in June and early July. Each territory's distributor and cinemas decide how long those local sessions remain available.
That distinction matters for practical viewing advice. An August 31 mainland extension cannot be used to promise an August screening in London, Kuala Lumpur or Toronto. Conversely, a festival appearance or an overseas opening date does not alter the mainland film key. Viewers should match the date to the market named in the announcement before making plans.
How viewers can check a current screening
Mainland viewers can search their city's cinema listings and use August 31 as the outer limit of the current key, while understanding that individual venues may stop earlier. Overseas viewers should look at the local distributor, cinema or film-festival schedule. This takes a little more checking, but it avoids turning one regional date into a misleading worldwide deadline.
The most useful update is therefore simple: July 31 is no longer the latest mainland date; August 31 is. The film is still travelling through different markets, but those journeys are recorded through separate cinema and festival calendars. Keeping the two systems apart makes the article more accurate and gives viewers advice they can actually use.