Once Upon a Time in the Middle East (Chinese: 欢迎来龙餐馆; pinyin: Huānyíng lái Lóng Cānguǎn; Arabic: مرحبًا بكم في مطعمِ التنينِ, romanized: Marhaban bikum fi maṭ'am al-tannin, lit. 'Welcome to the Loong Restaurant') is a 2026 Chinese comedy-drama film written and directed by Wen Muye and starring Shen Teng and Jiang Qiming. The anti-war film tells the story of Xu Fu, a philanthropic chef at a Chinese restaurant in the fictional city of Bahata in the Middle East. When a war erupts with the United States, he transforms his restaurant into a refuge for a group of orphans trapped in the city, but he is caught in the crossfire. Whereas most war films give focus to heroism and battles, Once Upon a Time in the Middle East distinguishes itself by offering a humane story of ordinary civilians struggling to survive.
Once Upon a Time in the Middle East was released in China on 11 August. It quickly gained popularity, crossing CN¥1 billion in just 8 days, opening at number one on the Chinese box office charts. It went on to gross more than CN¥2 billion at the Chinese box office.
Despite the war depicted in the film being heavily implied to be the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the film never actually mentions what country it takes place in. Wen explained that he did not want to "limit it to any particular war" in history and emphasized the film's timeless and universal human themes, saying that the film's story could even be playing out in the present day.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
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