becoming one of the most profitable films of the year, bringing in an estimated gross of $2,300,000, equal to $ today. According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $1,438,000 domestically and $843,000 abroad. It received Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Sound Recording, and was named one of the 10 Best Films of 1933 by Film Daily. Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times called the film "invariably entertaining" and, "The liveliest and one of the most tuneful screen musical comedies that has come out of Hollywood". The New York World-Telegram described it as "A sprightly entertainment, combining, as it did, a plausible enough story of back-stage life, some excellent musical numbers and dance routines and a cast of players that are considerably above the average found in screen musicals." "Every element is professional and convincing", wrote Variety. "It'll socko the screen musical fans with the same degree that Metro's pioneering screen musicals did." John Mosher of The New Yorker called it "a bright movie" with "as pretty a little fantasy of Broadway as you may hope to see", and praised Baxter's performance as "one of the best he has given us", though he described the plot as "the most conventional one to be found in such doings." 42nd Street continued to win praise in the decades after its release. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 96% rating based on 25 reviews. Its Critic Consensus reads: " Berkeley does it again in 42nd Street, a brilliant depression-era romp with stellar musical numbers and impeccable choreography." Critic Pauline Kael wrote, "[It] gave life to the clichés that have kept parodists happy." On January 14, 2004, Dennis Schwartz observed: "The musical film was changed forever by this innovative one, while due to its tremendous box office appeal it not only saved Warner Brothers from bankruptcy but made it into a major studio. Busby Berkeley … created numbers tailored-made for this film that exceeded the previous conventional limits... One can't say enough good things about what Busby Berkeley did for the musical...The unneeded melodramatics get in the way of the musical numbers and the fun atmospheric backstage happenings. But when the music is blasting away, this becomes a magical picture and all is forgiven." On April 10, 2020, in The New Yorker, listing the best films to stream during the Covid-19 pandemic, Richard Brody observes: "Modern musicals start here,