# China Box Office: ‘Once Upon a Time in the Middle East’ Crosses $300 Million

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/china-box-office-once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east-crosses-300-million/
- Published: 2026-09-08T04:36:19+00:00
- Updated: 2026-09-08T05:07:21+00:00
- Original publisher: Variety
- Original article: https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/china-box-office-once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east-300-million-1236854390/
- Topics: Art, Asia, Culture, Entertainment, Film, Middle East, World

## Key points

- "Once Upon a Time in the Middle East" tops China box office for fourth week
- Film's cumulative gross now stands at $305.6 million
- China's 2026 box office revenue down 27.8% year-on-year

## Summary

"Once Upon a Time in the Middle East," a war comedy-drama from Dirty Monkeys, has topped mainland China's box office for a fourth straight weekend and passed $300 million in cumulative earnings. The film, directed by Wen Muye and starring Shen Teng, follows a debt-ridden Chinese chef in the Middle East whose restaurant becomes a refuge for civilians and orphans amid regional conflict, and its sustained run underlines the strength of homegrown productions in a Chinese market that is otherwise trailing last year's takings.

The film earned RMB82.6 million ($12.1 million) over the 4–6 September weekend, taking its total to $305.6 million since its 11 August release. It was followed by Pearl River Film Group's crime thriller "V" ($7.9 million weekend, $75.4 million cumulative), Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" ($5.5 million weekend, $97.4 million cumulative), animated feature "All Wishes Come True!" ($4.8 million weekend, $277.5 million cumulative) and newcomer "Fall 2: Deadpoint" ($3 million debut). Overall weekend takings reached $41.9 million, while China's 2026 year-to-date box office stands at $4.21 billion, down 27.8% on the same period last year.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.