{"id":903696,"date":"2026-09-21T04:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T04:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/903696\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T04:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T04:52:09","slug":"china-box-office-once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east-tops-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/903696\/","title":{"rendered":"China Box Office: &#8216;Once Upon a Time in the Middle East&#8217; Tops Again"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tDirty Monkeys\u2019 war comedy-drama \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east\/\" id=\"auto-tag_once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east\" data-tag=\"once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Once Upon a Time in the Middle East<\/a>\u201d retained its grip on the top spot at the mainland China box office for the sixth consecutive weekend, taking in RMB28.1 million ($4.1 million) over the Sept. 18\u201320 frame, according to data from Artisan Gateway. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tDirected by Wen Muye (\u201cDying to Survive\u201d) and starring Shen Teng, Jiang Qiming, Aarif Rahman, and Omar Sherif, the hit feature has pushed its cumulative haul to $325.7 million since launching nationwide on Aug. 11. The narrative centers on a debt-strapped Chinese chef whose restaurant in a fictional Middle Eastern city becomes an unexpected sanctuary for local civilians and orphans when armed conflict breaks out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tPearl River Film Group\u2019s crime thriller \u201cV\u201d took second place in its fifth weekend, adding $2.8 million to lift its gross to $89.6 million. Directed by Han Yan (\u201cLove Never Ends\u201d), the gritty drama features an ensemble cast led by Tony Ka Fai Leung, Zhu Yilong, Tan Jianci, and Kara Wai, following an ambitious man whose rapid ascent to power is shadowed by dark, lingering fallout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tUniversal\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/the-odyssey\/\" id=\"auto-tag_the-odyssey\" data-tag=\"the-odyssey\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Odyssey<\/a>\u201d climbed back into third position, collecting $1.9 million in its fifth weekend. The epic has amassed $106.5 million across mainland theaters. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tPearl Studio\u2019s animated fantasy comedy \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/all-wishes-come-true\/\" id=\"auto-tag_all-wishes-come-true\" data-tag=\"all-wishes-come-true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">All Wishes Come True!<\/a>\u201d moved to fourth place in its tenth frame, generating $1.7 million. Directed by Mu Zhengyang, the enduring mythological feature now has a cumulative total of $286.3 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tSony\u2019s superhero spectacle \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/spider-man-brand-new-day\/\" id=\"auto-tag_spider-man-brand-new-day\" data-tag=\"spider-man-brand-new-day\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Spider-Man: Brand New Day<\/a>\u201d re-entered the top five, pulling in $800,000 in its eighth weekend and has lifted its cume to $232.5 million since rolling out on July 29, maintaining its status as the year\u2019s top-earning international import in the territory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMainland China\u2019s overall weekend grosses dropped to a quiet $15 million amid a pre-holiday lull ahead of the forthcoming National Day corridor. The 2026 year-to-date box office stands at $4.29 billion, down 29.2% compared to the same period in 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dirty Monkeys\u2019 war comedy-drama \u201cOnce Upon a Time in the Middle East\u201d retained its grip on the top&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[285495,49,48,75,337,307939,26766,29185],"class_list":["post-903696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-all-wishes-come-true","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east","tag-spider-man-brand-new-day","tag-the-odyssey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}