opening weekend. It grossed a total $60,240,295 in the North American domestic market, and $42,585,501 outside the United States, making a total of $102,825,796 worldwide gross, but failed to reach domestic projected numbers Jim Carrey brought to his previous movies. Apatow said "people looked at it as a failure because it didn’t make even more money." Despite the critical perception that the movie was a disappointment, it made a profit in excess of its $47 million production budget. The film was released in the United Kingdom on July 12, 1996, and opened on #2, behind Mission: Impossible. It was released on VHS on December 3, 1996, DVD on September 15, 1997, and a 15th anniversary Blu-ray release on March 1, 2011. Sony re-issued the latter format as a manufacture-on-demand title on December 17, 2019. Reception On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 55% based on 80 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critical consensus states, "The Cable Guys dark flashes of thought-provoking, subversive wit are often—but not always—enough to counter its frustratingly uneven storytelling approach." On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 56 based 28 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C+" on scale of A to F. The Cable Guy has been regarded as having a darker tone than most of Carrey's previous work. Audiences and film critics had mixed reactions to the change. The film was on J. Hoberman's Top 10 best of the year. Roger Ebert included The Cable Guy in his worst of the year list for 1996, though colleague Gene Siskel disagreed, calling it "a very good film. [Carrey's] best since The Mask". Ebert found Carrey's performance so bizarre and creepy, it undermined the entire story, and felt the movie was more of a dark comedy than was necessary. In spite of its mixed reception, the film has achieved a cult following, and has been attributed to helping Carrey pursue more serious roles such as The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Carrey named the movie as one his favorite that he worked on:I have odd favorites that may not be for kids, but The Cable Guy is one of my favorite movies. I think Ben Stiller did an amazing job, and it's populated with the greatest comedy actors of our day