The Treasure Hunter (刺陵) starring Jay Chou and Chi-ling Lin was expected to be a box office success when it came out in last December. Now that a month have passed since its debut, the movie can probably be called a disappointment. The Treasure Hunter was first released in Mainland China, and won the box office battle against The Storm Warriors II when both premiered on the same day. Since then, the movie has struggled with poor ticket sales and negative reviews. It will be even harder to gain any ground as Avatar has finally hit theaters in the Mainland.
The Treasure Hunter was released in Hong Kong during the Christmas holidays, and it has accumulated slightly over 1 million HKD in box office earnings so far. Other new releases seemed to be fairing much better, as The Storm Warriors II and New Moon have each made over 15 million, Bodyguards and Assassins is somewhat below expectations at 14 million, and the blockbuster Avatar is about the go over the 90 million mark. It is not unusual for movies that have huge box office success elsewhere to do poorly in Hong Kong. However in The Treasure Hunter’s case, although it was never expected to be a smash hit, many thought it would have done much better considering its big-budget production and Jay Chou’s track record at the local box office.
Performance of The Treasure Hunter in Taiwan isn't much better than the Mainland or Hong Kong. Netizens on PTT are criticizing the movie for being illogical and ridiculous. They further expressed their viewing experience with comments like “Stepping on a land mine on New Year's eve” and “Don't say you've seen a bad movie if you haven't watched The Treasure Hunter yet!”
All is not lost as memorable lines from The Treasure Hunter have become hot topics on the Internet. In one particular scene, Chi-ling Lin enchanted the audience by saying “Scary!” twice with her signature child-like voice. The audience would try to mimic her voice and repeat the line while still watching the movie. Netizens also had a good laugh with Jay Chou’s line “Don't fall in love with me!” They were confused whether he was saying it as the character or as Jay Chou himself.
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