"The New York Times" was not impressed, claiming that the movie would have drawn "little more than yawns in the film market ... had it not been throughout the country with a deafening barrage of publicity". Levine counted on first-weekend box office for his profits, booking the film "into as many cinemas as he could for a week's run, then withdrawing it before poor word-of-mouth withdrew it for him". "Hercules" opened at a remarkable 600 theaters, and the strategy was a smashing success: the film earned in domestic rentals. Just as valuable to the bottom line, it was even more successful overseas. Within a few decades, Hollywood was dominated by both movies and an exploitation philosophy very much like Levine's.