movie had a mixed to negative reception when it was released in the United States in 1985. In an interview with James Glickenhaus by Hong Kong film expert Bey Logan held before Chan achieved mainstream success with American audiences, Logan mentioned that many of his fans were disappointed with the movie. An unfazed Glickenhaus responded, "Well, you know that's still the most successful Jackie Chan movie internationally and always will be because the American audience, the mainstream audience will never sit still for Jackie's style of action". John J Puccio comments that "Chan's charm is in precious little evidence and his martial-arts stunts are limited to a few jumps and spills. Without Chan's contributions, the film is nothing more than a clichéd, wannabe thriller". He points out that "The Protector" isn't just badly written; it's uniformly awful all the way around. The acting is mechanical; the action is gratuitous; the pacing is humdrum; and the background music is trite and redundant. Box office In North America, The Protector was a box office disaster, making only US$981,817 (equivalent to $2,606,126 adjusted for inflation in 2021). Chan's re-edited version grossed HK$13,917,612 () in Hong Kong, a respectable sum, but significantly less than any of Chan's domestic films at the time. In Japan, it grossed () at the 1985 box office. In South Korea, it sold 181,236 tickets at the 1985 box office in Seoul City, equivalent to an estimated (). In Germany, the film sold 130,607 tickets in 1986, equivalent to an estimated () in gross revenue. In France, the film sold 487,749 tickets at the box office in 1987, equivalent to an estimated () in gross revenue. In Spain, it sold 164,415 tickets in 1989, equivalent to an estimated (). This adds up to an estimated total of approximately grossed worldwide. Home media Warner Bros. released the U.S Version on DVD, VHS and Laserdisc. The 2002 DVD version was the first time the US version was released with extra footage from the bar gunfight. The DVD itself is labeled with R rating. However, it is unknown if Warner Bros. actually obtained permission for the R rating by the MPAA with this new footage. In Hong Kong, a DVD from Universe Laser was released featuring Jackie Chan's personal edit (the Hong Kong version), featuring a Cantonese and Mandarin dub, along with 9 different subtitles, including English. It was non-anamorphic. This DVD is