available as a Digital Cinema Package from the British Film Institute. Reception Box office Seven Samurai was well received by Japanese audiences, earning a distribution rental income of , within the first twelve months of its release. It was Japan's third highest-grossing film of 1954, out-grossing Godzilla, which itself had sold tickets and grossed an inflation-adjusted equivalent of or in 1998. Overseas, the box office income for the film's 1956 North American release is currently unknown. The film's 2002 re-release grossed $271,841 in the United States and $4,124 in France. At the 2002 Kurosawa & Mifune Festival in the United States, the film grossed $561,692. This adds up to at least $833,533 grossed in the United States. Other European re-releases between 1997 and 2018 sold 27,627 tickets. Critical response While it initially received mixed reviews from Western critics, Seven Samurai is now considered one of the greatest films in cinema history. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a perfect approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads: "Arguably Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, The Seven Samurai is an epic adventure classic with an engrossing story, memorable characters, and stunning action sequences that make it one of the most influential films ever made". It currently ranks 18th on their action/adventure voting list, and third on their top 100 art house and international films. Upon its initial US release as The Magnificent Seven, film critic Wanda Hale reviewed the film in New York Daily News and rated it four stars in 1956. She noted it was very different from Kurosawa's previous films Rashomon (1950) and Gate of Hell (1953) in that it was "an action picture" but that Kurosawa "has exceeded himself" with "The Magnificent Seven." She praised Kurosawa's storytelling for "his deep perception of human nature" and "awareness that no two people are alike," his "sensitive, knowing direction" that "never lets audiences lose interest" in the plot development, his talent for making the battle scenes and violent action "terrifically exciting to audiences" and his ability to naturally weave humor and romance between the serious action. She also praised the "inspired performances" of the cast, including Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune, among other actors. Many critics outside of Japan have compared the film to westerns. Bosley Crowther, writing for The New York Times, said the film "bears cultural comparison with our