Box office Underworld: Rise of the Lycans was distributed to 2,942 theatres on its opening day (23 January 2009) in the United States and grossed an estimated US$8,050,000, debuting at number 1 at the box office. On its opening weekend, the film was ranked second at the box office behind
Paul Blart: Mall Cop with $20.7 million, which is lower than the amount earned by
Underworld and
Underworld: Evolution ($21.8 million and $26.9 million respectively) on their opening weekends. 59% of the audience at the premiere was male, while 55% was over 25 years old. In the United Kingdom, the film was distributed to 339 theatres and obtained $1.4 million at the box office on its opening day, ranking as the second-best opener of the week behind
Valkyrie. As of 26 April 2009, the film has grossed an estimated $45,802,315 in North America and $92,100,370 at the box office worldwide. According to the review aggregate website
Rotten Tomatoes, as of January 2012, 29% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 76 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Despite the best efforts of its competent cast,
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is an indistinguishable and unnecessary prequel." At the website
Metacritic the film has received an average score of 44, based on 14 reviews.
Joe Leydon of
Variety gave a positive review, stating that director Patrick Tatopoulos "offers a satisfyingly exciting monster rally that often plays like a period swashbuckler" and that the film is "notably less frenetic (and appreciably more coherent) than its predecessors". He also praised the lead actors for their performances. Leydon felt that Michael Sheen "hits all the right notes in a star-powered performance that will amuse, if not amaze, anyone who only knows the actor as Tony Blair or David Frost", and that Bill Nighy "offers a sly and stylish turn as Viktor". He credited this to the "sturdy performances" of Sheen and Nighy and the "tidy, unfussy direction" by Tatopoulos.
Manohla Dargis of
The New York Times commented that the film "offers few surprises other than Mr. Sheen's vigorous, physical performance", articulating that Sheen is "the movie's greatest asset" and that his commitment to his role demonstrated that there is "some benefit to having a real performance even in a formulaic entertainment like this". Clark Collis of
Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C+ grade, describing the film as "basically Were-
Spartacus, though that makes the humorless, scare-free result sound much more fun than it is". He says, "Sheen and Nighy do their best with the material, but this is easily the worst
Underworld so far." While he described the franchise as "grimly competent", Glenn Whipp of
Los Angeles Times criticized
Rise of the Lycans on its action sequences, which "accent incomprehensibility".
Kim Newman of
Empire rated the film one out of five stars and called it a "needless threequel", saying that it is unlikely for an audience who has not seen
Underworld to "follow the tosh this passes off as a plot". He adds, "In former effects man Patrick Tatopoulos' vision, these Dark Ages were really dark – so dark, in fact, you can barely see the monster action or register why Sheen and Nighy felt the need to sign up."
Richard Corliss of
Time described the film as "sluggish when it's not grinding toward the preposterous" and that it "just wasn't that memorable". He noted further that the "Brit cast attempts to camouflage the silliness by swanning it up, as if the Royal Shakespeare Company had gotten communally drunk and staged an impromptu production of
Dracula Meets the Wolfman." ==Home video==