tickets in 1988, becoming the top-grossing foreign film of the year and one of the top 15 highest-grossing foreign films of all time. At an average 1980s Soviet ticket price of , the film's ticket sales are equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately Rbls (). The film sold a total of 54,831,200 tickets worldwide, including 1,231,200 tickets in North America. The film grossed an estimated total revenue of approximately worldwide. The financial failure of the movie (while it earned 3.7x it's budget, it ultimately lost money due to its marketing costs) - along with movies such as Tai-Pan - led to the bankruptcy of De Laurentiis' company. Critical response King Kong Lives was panned by critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports a 0% approval rating based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 2.2/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 32 out of 100 based on 9 critic reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Roger Ebert gave the film only one out of four stars and stated, "The problem with everyone in King Kong Lives is that they're in a boring movie, and they know they're in a boring movie, and they just can't stir themselves to make an effort." DEG sent a notice to Ebert and Gene Siskel notifying the two critics that they were allowed to show snippets of the film on TV in their native Chicago, but were forbidden to show the same snippets on the national scale. Siskel remarked "Obviously, they were scared [...] If you don't believe me or Roger, believe the film company, that, think about it, couldn't find a single scene that it wanted you to see." Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times opined that "this sequel, directed by John Guillermin (who was also at the helm of the 1976 version) is in good hands as long as Kong is on screen. (Designer Carlo Rambaldi has done a masterful job of sculpting his mighty ape’s features, giving him heft, surprising agility and, perhaps to age him a bit, a receding hairline.) But the film makers haven’t been able to improve on the original story. It’s still Kong vs. Civilization, with a lot of high-firepower action and wackily implausible plot twists thrown in to keep the Big Guy busy." Rambaldi's work was also lauded by Janet Maslin of The New York Times, but she nonetheless remarked that "King Kong