studio New Line Cinema released Surf Ninjas two weeks earlier than its commercial release date in Evansville, Indiana and Lubbock, Texas as part of a test of regional markets. The early release marked the first time that a major film was released in Evansville before its national opening without any local ties. The president of theatrical marketing at New Line, Chris Pula, selected Evansville for its family-oriented audiences. Pula explained: "Evansville is traditionally a strong family market. Also, we have a strong relationship with the exhibitors in that area". The president said that the studio was testing the film in a larger market than usual due to its uncertainty about the film's reception, and that the studio would measure its marketing success with ticket receipts. Surf Ninjas was widely released in 1,321 theaters in the United States on August 20, 1993. Over its opening weekend, the film grossed , placing 13th in box office rankings, ahead of Manhattan Murder Mystery. Surf Ninjas ultimately grossed in the United States. The film was released on VHS on December 29, 1993. It was subsequently released on DVD on September 3, 2002. Critical response Janet Maslin of The New York Times called most of Surf Ninjas "only mindlessly watchable" and called the film "another of Hollywood's efforts to prove that the American mall mentality is at home in any corner of the globe". Maslin also found the film to lack in actual surfing content. Lynn Voedisch of the Chicago Sun-Times described Surf Ninjas as "a marriage of pop icons that simply was fated to be", citing children's love for ninjas, especially the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and for the surf culture. Voedisch considered Rob Schneider's presence as comic relief unfunny, believing that Leslie Nielsen should have received more screen time as the dictator. Calvin Wilson of The Kansas City Star called the film "a disgrace... even by Hollywood standards", seeing it as a mess of child lead roles, unfunny cameo roles by Schneider and Nielsen, martial arts action, and lame jokes. Wilson considered the story "stale and uninspired" that involved "people we don't care about doing things we can't believe". Stephen Hunter of The Baltimore Sun thought the film's lead, Ernie Reyes, Jr., was too old (20) and too muscular to be received believably as a 15-year-old. Hunter otherwise found the Reyes to impress with their fighting skills, though the film's martial arts sequences