Drunken Immortals technique, which was also featured in Drunken Master (1978) based on the real-life Daoist style of Drunken Fist. The change was most likely done to compensate for the general western audience's unfamiliarity with Chinese mythology and the first film. The Australian (region 4) and Japanese (region 2) release featured the same cuts and re-scoring as the US release. A Blu-ray version was released on 15 September 2009, in the United States, which features the cut US version in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. In the UK it was released on Blu-ray 16 April 2012 under the title The Legend of Drunken Master. The original, uncut Hong Kong version was finally made available on Blu-ray in China, Korea and Japan, courtesy of Warner Bros., on 11 October 2018 under the title Drunken Master II. Reception Box office Drunken Master II was a notable success in Hong Kong, grossing an all-time record of HK$40,971,484 () during its theatrical run. The success was somewhat surprising, considering reports of tension on the set between Chan and Lau Kar Leung. By January 1995, the film had grossed from five other East Asian territories. It grossed in China, and in Taiwan, where it was one of the year's top ten highest-grossing films. In Japan, the film grossed . In South Korea, it sold 1,136,145 tickets and grossed , making it the year's top-grossing film in the country. Six years after its original release, Drunken Master II was released in 1,345 North American theaters as The Legend of Drunken Master by Dimension Films in 2000. This re-edited version made US$3,845,278 ($2,865 per screen) in its opening weekend, on its way to a US$11,555,430 total in the United States and Canada. Upon its 2000 release in France, the film sold 28,681 tickets, equivalent to an estimated (). Combined, the film's total estimated worldwide gross was approximately , equivalent to adjusted for inflation. Critical response Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of a possible four:When I did a seminar at the Hawaii Film Festival several years ago, comparing the physical comedy of Chan and Buster Keaton, martial arts fans brought in their bootleg Hong Kong laser discs of this film and told me that I had to see the final 20-minute fight sequence. They were correct. Coming at the end of a film filled with jaw-dropping action scenes, this extended