wrote that this film is "exciting, alluring and thrilling", whereas Empire gave the film a three-star rating out of five stating that "An undeniably handsome creation, but its excessive length and surplus of directorial flourishes merely exacerbate the emptiness of an initially promising plot". Lisa from Variety gave a positive review mentioning that "a little Sergio Leone here, a little Sleepy Hollow there and, uh, martial arts-style confrontations are all deftly melded in Brotherhood of the Wolf, an attempt to elucidate the French urban legend of the Beast of Gevaudan. This is a home-grown French actioner that wears its sincere desire to entertain on its flamboyantly tailored sleeve". The blend of various movie genres such as martial arts, mystery, costume drama and horror attracted certain amounts of criticism. In particular, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote "This new take on horror is more of the bloody same", whereas Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post said that it is "a mad agglomeration of styles and traditions that ultimately results in nothing so much as a mad agglomeration of styles and traditions", ultimately awarding the film a 0.5/4 score. Box office The film was one of the biggest box office hits for 2001 in France, grossing an estimated $24 million. The film also enjoyed commercial success in the United States; Universal Pictures paid $2 million to acquire the film's North American distribution rights and went on to gross $11.3 million in limited theatrical release, making it the sixth-highest-grossing French-language film of all time in the United States (behind Amelie, La Cage aux Folles, Z, A Man and a Woman and Emmanuelle ). It was also number one at the Italian box office for two weeks. The film grossed $70 million in worldwide theatrical release. The film also did brisk video and DVD sales in the United States. Alternate versions There are three distinct and very different versions of the film: The original French/US theatrical cut, running 143 minutes (sometimes listed as 142 minutes). The UK cut, running 139 minutes, released on home video in the UK and Australia; in this version, all the scenes involving the Royal Hunter Beauterne are removed and some scenes from "Director's Cut" are added in. The "Director's Cut", running 150 minutes (sometimes listed as 152 minutes), released on home video in France and Canada in 2002, and later in the US and other territories. In the United