distributed in the U.S. by National General Pictures beginning in 1973, shortly before the release of Enter the Dragon. Columbia Pictures acquired the U.S. distribution rights to the film, after the demise of National General Pictures, in 1980 and re-released it, along with The Big Boss, as a studio-sanctioned double feature with the tagline "What's better than a Bruce Lee movie? Two Bruce Lee Movies!" In Japan, the film was released on 20 July 1974. Several scenes in the Japanese version were censored due to Raymond Chow's concerns over how the film's anti-Japanese sentiments would be received by Japanese audiences. Reception Box office Upon its Hong Kong release, Fist of Fury grossed 4,431,423, beating the previous box office record set by Lee's The Big Boss in the previous year. During its initial run, it grossed more than in Southeast Asia and across Asia. In the United States and Canada, the film topped the box office in June 1973, and earned in distributor rentals by the end of 1973, equivalent to an estimated box office gross revenue of approximately . Upon its July 1973 release in South Korea, the film sold 317,780 tickets in the capital city of Seoul. The film was also a success in the United Kingdom, where it released on 19 July 1973, a day before Lee's death. In France, it became the 12th highest-grossing film of 1974 (below two other Lee films in the top ten, Enter the Dragon and Way of the Dragon), with 3,013,676 ticket sales. In Spain, the film sold 2,034,752 tickets. In Japan, despite the film's negative portrayal of Japanese villains, the film went on to be a surprise blockbuster in the country. Most Japanese audiences did not identify with the Japanese villains who they perceived as "unreal" and "stupid" but instead identified with Lee's "Chinese warrior" spirit which reminded them of the bushido spirit depicted in older Samurai cinema. Fist of Fury became the year's seventh highest-grossing film in Japan, with in distributor rental earnings. Against a tight budget of $100,000, the film went on to gross an estimated worldwide (equivalent to approximately adjusted for inflation), earning times its budget. It was the highest-grossing Hong Kong film up until Lee's The Way of the Dragon (1972). Critical response Upon release in Asia, a review for Variety magazine in November 1972 called it a "Naive Hong Kong-made meller, of little U.S. commercial appeal"