"What happened at the end?". On the overall quality of the film, comments included, "Can't you do any better? This is pretty sad." "You scared my son to death." and "This is an insult to the brain power of my two-year old son". The film was released with Arnold's original ending intact. After its release, Mel Danner, manager of the Circle Theater in Waynoka, Oklahoma, noted audiences felt it was a good film, but that Carey should have returned to his original size at the end. Release The Incredible Shrinking Man opened in New York on February 22, 1957. This was followed by a screening in Los Angeles on March 27, 1957, and a wider release in April. Actress Randy Stuart recalled the film was either "second or third, I think third, after The Ten Commandments" in terms of how much money it made against what it cost. Variety reported that by the end of the year it had grossed $1.43 million, making it one of the highest grossing science fiction films of the decade (for comparison, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea grossed $8 million, Journey to the Center of the Earth grossed $4.8 million, The Thing from Another World grossed $1.95 million, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers grossed $1.2 million). The film was reissued theatrically in 1964, but otherwise was rarely shown on television and screened only occasionally at science fiction conventions. It was released on laser disc in 1978 and 1991, on VHS in 1992, and on DVD in 2006 (as part of a box set containing a collection of Universal-International's science fiction films). Arrow Video released the film on Blu-ray in 2017. In July 2021, The Criterion Collection announced a blu-ray of the film with a new 4K digital restoration; its bonus material includes audio commentary from Tom Weaver and David Schecter. Reception Arnold's biographer Dana M. Reemes described The Incredible Shrinking Man as initially being received as a routine to above average film; its reception has steadily grown ever since. Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times called the film "a fascinating exercise in imagination, as terrifying as it is funny [...] Science-fiction admirers who are accustomed to finding food for thought as well as vicarious thrills in such flights of fancy will not be disappointed, either." The Monthly Film Bulletin praised the film, and declared it a "horrifying story that grips the imagination