but Schifrin has denied this in interviews. Release In promotion for the film's premiere, stars James Brolin and Margot Kidder visited the actual home at 112 Ocean Avenue, accompanied by the press. Brolin later reflected that the house was much more "condensed" than the location where the film was shot. Both Brolin and Kidder were skeptics of the claims made in the book. "I didn't buy that this really had happened," Kidder said in a 2005 interview. During the press junkets promoting the film, when asked whether she believed the Lutzes' claims, Kidder purportedly turned to the producers, who responded: "We'll never tell." In a 2005 interview, Margot Kidder said "the producers told us we should say all these terrible things happened on the set. It was all bullshit. Nothing happened, but it was funny." The Amityville Horror had an invitational premiere at the Museum of Modern Art in New York on July 24 and was released in Los Angeles and New York on July 27, 1979. Reception Box office The Amityville Horror premiered in the United States on July 27, 1979. It was one of the most successful films produced by an independent studio at the time and was the most profitable AIP release since The Born Losers (1968). The film opened in 748 theatres, grossing $7.8 million for the weekend. It grossed over $13.3 million for the week from 810 theatres, the second best opening week of the year (to that date) after Moonraker'''s $14.7 million and AIP's largest ever. It grossed a total of $86.4 million at the U.S. and Canadian box office, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 1979. It was the highest-grossing independent film of all time until 1990, when it was surpassed by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Critical response In his review at the time, Roger Ebert described the film as "dreary and terminally depressing". A staff review in People said Rod Steiger was overacting and that the film was "ridiculous." Tim Pulleine of the Monthly Film Bulletin declared that the film "proves the most satisfying excursion into no-frills spine-chilling for some time." and that "The film is constantly well played and provides Rod Steiger with his best opportunity in ages for all-stops-out bravura." John Simon of the National Review described The Amityville Horror as 'dreadful'. In a retrospective review, historian James F. Broderick wrote: "Director Stuart Rosenberg crafted an effective horror movie that