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The pic earned about $18.4 million in just one day and is out to plunder local box office until the force of “Star Wars” awakens on Jan. Though the film lacks the spooky, macabre spirit expected of this subterranean subgenre, Mongolian-Chinese helmer Wuershan ( “Painted Skin II: The Resurrection”) applies his outlandish visual panache to evoke an underground world of ethnic antiquity refreshingly distinct from traditional Han-Chinese culture. Diving into the bowels of the earth to fight zombies and explore a lost Khitan kingdom, the 3D tomb-raiding blockbuster “ Mojin: The Lost Legend” barrels forth with enough robust action and technical moxie to make audiences overlook its formulaic plotting and rote characterizations.
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