David Noh of Film Journal International advised "Grab a big bag of popcorn and a soda and sink yourself into this rambling but skillfully done and surprisingly deep Chinese action romp." Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter-while criticising the film for being overlong, convoluted and repetitive-praised the action sequences and special effects, deeming them superb, and lauded the performances of the leads. Writing for, Mark Dujsik awarded the film one and a half stars out of four calling it, "equal parts shabby and discomforting." What starts eerie becomes strictly cartoonish." Likewise, the Los Angeles Times gave a negative review. Gold of The New York Times gave a negative review saying the film wastes some fine actors such as Shu Qi "on predictable, one-dimensional characters, and once the tomb is entered, the underground sets become all but interchangeable. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 50% approval rating, based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10. While the performances of the cast, special effects and action sequences have been praised, the film overall has received largely mixed reviews from western critics.
In the United States and Canada, it opened with US$280,000 from 22 theaters. It is only behind Furious 7 (US$39 million) when incorporating all kinds of films. The film went on to surpass Monster Hunt ( US$27.0 million) to become the highest-grossing Chinese-language IMAX film in China, with US$27.1 million. Of that US$6 million alone came from 259 IMAX screens for a 10-day cumulative of US$17.6 million becoming the second-highest grossing local language film for IMAX ever in China.
In its second weekend, it grossed another US$44 million – US$95.7 million in its full second week – falling behind newcomer Devil and Angel. Furthermore, it also broke the record for the biggest IMAX midnight gross (US$300,000), opening day (US$2.7 million) and opening weekend (US$7.5 million) from 250 IMAX screens. The film has the third biggest three-day opening of all time in China behind Monster Hunt and Lost in Hong Kong (both of which were also released in 2015). 2 worldwide (behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens). Through its opening weekend, it grossed US$85 million (per Rentrak), US$91.9 million (per Entgroup) and debuted at No. In addition to this, it earned the largest single-day gross for a local 3D title ($35.5 million on Saturday, December 19). This includes the US$1.34 million it earned from midnight screenings, also a new record for a 3D local film. Mojin: The Lost Legend earned US$26.4 million on its opening day in China which is the highest-grossing opening day for a 3D local language film. It is the highest-grossing IMAX film of all time in China with $27.1 million (as of January 6, 2016). Prior to its release, various film critics were predicting the film would be a significant hit at the box office.
ĭue to sensitive issues about the circulation of national treasures abroad and the reported prevalence of grave robbing in poorer parts of China, the subject was feared to be taboo on screen, making the project one of the Chinese film industry's most anticipated movie over its three and a half production period.
It was released in a total of 269 IMAX screens in mainland China. Following the huge commercial success of Chinese films like Monster Hunt and Lost in Hong Kong, Greg Foster, senior executive VP, IMAX Corporation and CEO of IMAX Entertainment said the company was looking forward to witness such success again with the film because the suspenseful and visual nature of the film, combined with the Chinese cultural interest in treasure-hunting, makes Mojin: The Lost Legend a perfect fit for the IMAX experience. The film was released in 2D, 3D, IMAX and IMAX 3D formats in China on December 18, 2015, and on the same day in the United States and Canada in 2D by Well Go USA Entertainment across 30 theaters.