{"id":617953,"date":"2026-09-08T06:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T06:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/617953\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T06:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T06:44:11","slug":"china-box-office-once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/617953\/","title":{"rendered":"China Box Office: &#8216;Once Upon a Time in the Middle East&#8217; Rules"},"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 the top spot at the mainland China box office for the fourth consecutive weekend, grossing RMB82.6 million ($12.1 million) over the Sept. 4\u20136 frame, according to data from Artisan Gateway. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe blockbuster hit has now crossed a major milestone, lifting its cumulative total to $305.6 million since its nationwide launch on Aug. 11. Directed by Wen Muye (\u201cDying to Survive\u201d) from a script co-written with Lang Qunli and Wei Zhong, the film stars Shen Teng as a debt-ridden Chinese chef in the Middle East who, alongside his floor manager (Jiang Qiming), transforms his eatery into a vital safe haven for civilians and orphans amidst erupting regional conflict. The cast also features Aarif Rahman and Omar Sherif.<\/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 maintained second place, bringing in $7.9 million in its third weekend for a cumulative total of $75.4 million. Directed by Han Yan (\u201cLove Never Ends\u201d), the film stars Tony Ka Fai Leung, Zhu Yilong, Tan Jianci, and Kara Wai in a cautionary tale charting an ambitious figure\u2019s rise to prominence and the dangerous consequences that accompany his ambition.<\/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 took third position in its fourth frame, collecting $5.5 million. Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, the Imax-shot adaptation of Homer\u2019s ancient Greek epic has amassed a cumulative gross of $97.4 million. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tPearl Studio\u2019s animated fantasy feature \u201cAll Wishes Come True!\u201d continued its summer endurance run in fourth place, adding $4.8 million in its eighth weekend of release. Directed by Mu Zhengyang, the mythological comedy has accumulated a stellar $277.5 million since opening on July 18.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tCapstone Pictures\u2019 survival thriller \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/fall-2-deadpoint\/\" id=\"auto-tag_fall-2-deadpoint\" data-tag=\"fall-2-deadpoint\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fall 2: Deadpoint<\/a>\u201d debuted in fifth position, generating $3 million over its opening weekend and $3.2 million including early screenings since launching Sept. 4. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMainland China\u2019s overall weekend grosses reached $41.9 million, while the 2026 year-to-date revenue stands at $4.21 billion, down 27.8% 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 retained the top spot at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,262319,61,60,270,252336,83194],"class_list":["post-617953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-fall-2-deadpoint","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east","tag-the-odyssey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617953","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=617953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}