Once Upon a Time in the Middle East: Shen Teng's restaurant drama is on at 85 Malaysian cinemas after $319 million in China

China's biggest comedy star made a war film, and Malaysia has taken to it. Once Upon a Time in the Middle East, which opened here on 11 September, was No. 4 in Malay Mail's chart for the weekend of 11 to 13 September, behind Chelot, Hope and All Wishes Come True!, and the paper reports it has been generating positive word of mouth among Malaysian audiences. This site's listings for the week to 25 September have it at 85 cinemas with 732 sessions: 38 GSC cinemas, 38 TGV cinemas, and Mega, FST and Amerin besides.

A chef, a restaurant and a war

Screen Daily's description, from its global box office report of 17 August, is the clearest short account. Shen Teng plays a Chinese chef who travels overseas to pay off his debts and opens a Chinese restaurant in Bahata, the fictional capital of an unnamed Middle Eastern country; when war with the United States breaks out, the restaurant shelters the local children as the fighting closes in. The film was shot in China and Egypt with Chinese and Egyptian actors speaking Chinese, Arabic and English, and it is directed by Wen Muye, whose Dying to Survive Screen Daily names as his best-known work. The trade paper calls it a departure for Shen Teng, an actor known for comedy.

The chains' own synopsis fills in the restaurant: the chef is Xu Fu, from China's north-east, who arrives with his wok and, with the front-of-house manager Ma Junsheng, played by Jiang Qiming, turns an empty Dragon restaurant into a full one on dishes like candied sweet potato and kung pao chicken before the war arrives. Aarif Lee is in the cast, along with the Egyptian actors Omar Sherif and Sherif Sobhy. It runs 141 minutes, is rated 16 and is in Mandarin, with subtitles.

What it did in China

Screen Daily reported on 17 August that the film had taken an estimated $66.7 million in China over its first weekend and $130.3 million since opening on Tuesday 11 August. By the trade paper's report of 14 September it stood at $318.9 million worldwide, in only five territories, with $7.7 million added that weekend, which put it ninth in the world that week while still playing in a handful of countries. Malaysia is one of the few places outside China showing it at all, which is part of why 85 cinemas here is a wide release for a Mandarin-language drama.

Where it plays, and when

The chains have programmed it as an evening film for adults rather than a family outing: most sessions are in Deluxe and 2D halls, with 34 in TGV's Indulge halls, 14 in Beanieplex, 14 in GSC's Studio halls and a few in GETHA, Velvet and Cabin suites. Kuala Lumpur has 224 sessions this week, Selangor 170 and Johor 86, and Saturday has 227. At 141 minutes an 8:30pm start finishes close to 11pm.

For Chinese-speaking audiences this is the second big film from China in a month; All Wishes Come True! is still on at 74 cinemas in its fourth week, and this site's post on that film has its story. The Once Upon a Time in the Middle East page lists every cinema and session, and the showtimes page puts each cinema's times side by side. Sessions are refreshed from each chain every hour.