The Hollywood thriller has dominated Chinese cinemas since it was released on Sept. 2, reaping 60.56 million yuan (US$8.9 million) in one week, the Beijing News said yesterday.

"The box office is within expectation and is normal for an entertainment blockbuster," Jiang Wei, general manager of the EDKO (Beijing) Film Distribution, was quoted as saying.

The third installment of the adventure series sees explorer Rick O'Connell, played by Brendan Fraser, and his family battle in China to save the world from a resurrected ancient Chinese emperor, played by one of China's biggest stars, Jet Li.

Its Chinese setting, with a reference to China's first emperor, Qinshihuang, and the terra cotta army in his tomb, has attracted Chinese audiences, but also led to broad criticism.

An online poll on one of China's major portals sina.com.cn, showed that about 52 percent of voters said they didn't like the movie because they felt it trampled on the Chinese culture.

Another 34 percent seemed ambivalent, saying the 150-million-U.S.-dollar blockbuster is just "so-so". Only 14 percent of cinema goers said they liked it.

Most Chinese bloggers, who started slamming the movie even days before the it officially opened, complained about the "absurdity" of the plot.

"Even though it was not made explicit, every Chinese with a little commonsense could tell that the emperor in the movie is Qinshihuang. China's first emperor was turned into a monster with three heads...this is illogical and quite unacceptable," a blogger named Shuifang wrote.