China Box Office: ‘Once Upon a Time in the Middle East’ Stays on Top as ‘The Odyssey’ Crosses $100 Million — SkimNews
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- "Once Upon a Time in the Middle East" held No. 1 at the mainland China box office for a fifth consecutive frame, adding $7.8 million over Sept. 11–13 to push its cumulative to $318.4 million since opening Aug. 11.
- "The Odyssey" crossed the $100 million mark in China with a $3.5 million weekend (cume $102.9M), surpassing Nolan's "Oppenheimer," "Tenet," and "Inception" China runs and ranking second in his local catalog behind only "Interstellar" ($122M).
- Crime thriller "V" took second in its fourth weekend with $4.7 million, lifting its cumulative to $84.1 million since its Aug. 19 rollout, while "All Wishes Come True!" held third in its ninth frame with $4 million (cume $283.4M).
- "My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday" debuted at No. 5 with $1.7 million over its two-day opening — a time-bending romance directed by Xiang Guoqiang and adapted from Takafumi Nanatsuki's Japanese novel.
- Mainland China's 2026 year-to-date box office stands at $4.26 billion, down 27.6% from the same period in 2025, with the overall weekend grossing $28.8 million.
- Director Wen Muye ("Dying to Survive") and star Shen Teng anchor "Once Upon a Time in the Middle East," whose story tracks a Chinese chef opening a restaurant in the Middle East that becomes a haven for civilians when regional conflict erupts.
Why it matters: Nolan's "The Odyssey" joining the $100M China club cements his status as one of Hollywood's few reliable draws in that market, but domestic productions sweeping the top three slots and a 27.6% YTD decline underscore how much ground Chinese local films have gained in 2026.
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