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The Rocky Horror Picture Show
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==Reception== ===Critical reception=== ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' critic [[Roger Ebert]] noted that when first released, ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' was "ignored by pretty much everyone, including the future fanatics who would eventually count the hundreds of times they'd seen it". He considered it more a "long-running social phenomenon" than a movie, rating it 2.5 out of 4 stars and describing Curry as "the best thing in the movie, maybe because he seems to be having the most fun" but thinking the story would work better performed on stage for a live audience.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=1 January 1975 |title=The Rocky Horror Picture Show |url=https://rogerebert.com/reviews/the-rocky-horror-picture-show-1975 |access-date=5 April 2014 |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |via=Rogerebert.com}}</ref> Bill Henkin noted that ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' thought that the "campy hijinks" of the film seemed "labored", and also mentioned that the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]''{{'s}} John Wasserman, who had liked the stage play in London, found the film "lacking both charm and dramatic impact". ''[[Newsweek]]'', in 1978, called the film "tasteless, plotless and pointless".<ref name="Picart2003">{{cite book |first=Caroline Joan |last=Picart |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f75PPxXDpeIC&pg=PA62 |title=Remaking the Frankenstein Myth on Film: Between Laughter and Horror |date=2 July 2003 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-5770-2 |page=62}}</ref> [[Review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]] gives the film a rating of 80% based on 49 reviews, and an average grade of 6.9/10, with the critical consensus reading "''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' brings its quirky characters in tight, but it's the narrative thrust that really drives audiences insane and keeps 'em doing the time warp again".<ref>{{cite web| title=The Rocky Horror Picture Show| url=https://rottentomatoes.com/m/rocky_horror_picture_show/| access-date=24 February 2024| website=Rotten Tomatoes}}</ref> A number of contemporary critics find it compelling and enjoyable because of its offbeat and bizarre qualities; the [[BBC]] summarised: "for those willing to experiment with something a little bit different, a little bit outrΓ©, ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' has a lot to offer."<ref>{{cite web |date=25 August 2000 |title=The Rocky Horror Picture Show |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2000/08/25/rocky_horror_review.shtml |access-date=5 April 2014 |website=BBC}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' called it a "low-budget freak show/cult classic/cultural institution" with "catchy" songs.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Rocky Horror Picture Show |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/41864/The-Rocky-Horror-Picture-Show/overview |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426131421/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/41864/The-Rocky-Horror-Picture-Show/overview |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 April 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |first=Derek |last=Armstrong |date=26 April 2014 |access-date=5 April 2014}}</ref> [[Geoff Andrew]], of ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'', noted that the "string of hummable songs gives it momentum, Gray's admirably straight-faced narrator holds it together, and a run on black lingerie takes care of almost everything else", rating it 4 out of 5 stars.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Rocky Horror Picture Show |url=https://timeout.com/london/film/the-rocky-horror-picture-show |magazine=Time Out |access-date=5 April 2014}}</ref> On the other hand, [[Dave Kehr]] of the ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' considered the wit to be "too weak to sustain a film" and thought that the "songs all sound the same".<ref>{{cite news |title=The Rocky Horror Picture Show |newspaper=Chicago Reader |url=https://chicagoreader.com/film/the-rocky-horror-picture-show/ |last=Kehr |first=Dave |date=23 October 2012 |access-date=17 November 2021}}</ref> In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{cite web |date=20 November 2013 |title=National Film Registry Titles 1989β2013 |url=https://www.loc.gov/film/registry_titles.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419221742/http://www.loc.gov/film/registry_titles.php |archive-date=19 April 2012 |access-date=18 February 2014 |website=Library of Congress}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pP3A4NB2P4oC |title=Rocky Horror Picture Show |journal=Library of Congress Information Bulletin |year=2006 |publisher=Library of Congress |page=23}}</ref> ===Box office=== In its first year of release, the film grossed $1,032,000 in the United States and Canada and $200,650 internationally.<ref name=grosses>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Screen International]]|date=27 March 1993|page=23|title=The long, Rocky road to profit}}</ref> It fared better in 1976, grossing over $11 million in the United States and Canada and $2 million internationally for a worldwide total of $14.7 million. It grossed similar amounts for the next four years and had reached a gross of $57.9 million in the United States and Canada and $68.6 million worldwide by 1980. By 1984 it had reached $100 million worldwide and by 1986 it had reached that milestone in the United States and Canada and $124 million worldwide. By 1990, the film had grossed $125.6 million in the United States and Canada and $150 million worldwide. At that date, it had an estimated profit just from theatrical release grosses of $55 million.<ref name=grosses/> By 1999 it had grossed almost $140 million in the United States and Canada<ref>{{cite book |editor=[[Peter Cowie]] |date=2000 |title=The Variety Almanac 2000|publisher=[[Boxtree Ltd]] |page=64 |isbn=0-7522-7159-8}}</ref> for a worldwide gross in excess of $164 million. Since 2007, it has grossed $2.6 million worldwide<ref>{{cite web |title=The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0073629/ |access-date=March 8, 2024 |website=[[Box Office Mojo]]}}</ref> giving it a worldwide gross in excess of $166 million.
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