{"id":595824,"date":"2026-08-17T08:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T08:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/595824\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T08:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T08:18:09","slug":"china-box-office-once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east-dominates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/595824\/","title":{"rendered":"China Box Office: ‘Once Upon a Time in the Middle East’ Dominates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDirty Monkeys\u2019 war comedy-drama \u201cOnce Upon a Time in the Middle East<\/a>\u201d took command of the mainland China box office during the Aug. 14\u201316 weekend, grossing RMB477.9 million ($70.3 million) over the three-day frame, according to data from Artisan Gateway. <\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing its Tuesday, Aug. 11 rollout and earlier previews, the production has amassed a cumulative total of $134.1 million. Directed by Wen Muye (\u201cDying to Survive\u201d) from a screenplay co-written with Lang Qunli and Wei Zhong, the film stars Shen Teng as a Chinese chef who moves to the Middle East to open an eatery to pay off family debts. Alongside his floor manager, played by Jiang Qiming, their business turns into an unexpected sanctuary for local civilians and children when armed conflict erupts. The cast also features Aarif Rahman and Omar Sherif. From the Imax screens left over from the saturation \u201cThe Odyssey<\/a>\u201d release, \u201cOnce Upon a Time in the Middle East\u201d collected $2.1 million. <\/p>\n

\n\tUniversal\u2019s Christopher Nolan epic \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d debuted in second place, pulling in $28.4 million across its official three-day opening weekend. Bolstered by early previews, the tentpole has reached a cumulative $35.9 million in the territory. The 20,000 screen Middle Kingdom release<\/a> followed a high-profile Beijing promotional tour and secured an extensive Imax footprint across the country. Including previews, the Imax cume is $19.3 million in China and the company said that this marks\u00a0the biggest opening weekend ever for a Christopher Nolan film in China, both in Imax box office and Imax indexing.<\/p>\n

\n\tPearl Studio\u2019s animated fantasy feature \u201cAll Wishes Come True!<\/a>\u201d moved to third position in its fifth weekend, taking in $13.1 million. Directed by Mu Zhengyang, the mythological comedy has accumulated $235.9 million since its July 18 debut, tracking eight ordinary mortals who combine their wit to outsmart celestial deities and earn the mantle of the Eight Immortals.<\/p>\n

\n\tSony\u2019s \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day<\/a>\u201d placed fourth in its third full weekend, collecting $9.9 million. The film has reached a cumulative total of $209 million since launching on July 29, continuing its run as the top-grossing Hollywood import in China this year.<\/p>\n

\n\tEnlight Pictures\u2019 animated fantasy romance \u201cTo Your Island\u201d held onto fifth place, taking $2.6 million in its sophomore frame for a cumulative total of $15 million. Directed by Zhou Haoran and adapted from Fan Dawang\u2019s popular web novel, the story follows a young woman led by a paper crane to a mysterious island, where she reconnects with her former boyfriend, who has lost his memories and been transformed into a rabbit.<\/p>\n

\n\tMainland China\u2019s overall weekend grosses reached $132.9 million, while the 2026 year-to-date revenue stands at $3.79 billion, down 30.4% from 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 took command of the mainland China…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[234494,93,61,60,270,252336,8146,83194],"class_list":["post-595824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-all-wishes-come-true","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","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\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}