Warner Bros. now “faces an interesting test of its storied legacy vs. its current financial reality,” according to Puck’s Matt Belloni. You got that right.
It turns out that Clint Eastwood’s new film, Juror #2,” out November 1, was originally intended as a streaming-only release on Max, but at the last minute, Warners decided to bump it up to a limited theatrical release; the recent trailer garnered a much more positive response than the studio had initially anticipated.
For the time being, Warners is releasing “Juror #2” in only 50 theaters, and there aren’t any immediate plans to expand the rollout. Eastwood, 94, famously spent most of his career at the studio, and Warners is apparently not going to do much marketing on “Juror #2,” Belloni is told.
What does Warners do? “Juror #2” is supposed to premiere at the AFI Film Festival in only 9 days’ time. If reactions from critics and audiences turns out to be positive, maybe it’d be a good idea to expand this one nationwide. Whether Warners would like to believe it or not, Eastwood’s name can still sell tickets, and if he’s made a good film here then it’s well worth a shot.
It should be noted that Clint’s last film, “Cry Macho,” only did $16M in theaters, but that was during the pandemic, and the film had also been simultaneously released on Max.
A leaked conference call had Zaslav complaining about “Cry Macho.” After executives told Zaslav that they had doubted the movie would turn a profit, Zaslav replied “then why did you make it if you had reservations?” When they replied that Eastwood had given the studio many hits and never delivered a movie late or over budget, he answered: “We don’t owe anyone any favors.”
Eastwood’s three films prior to “Cry Macho” did fairly well under very modest budgets; “Richard Jewell” ($45M), “The Mule” ($174M), and “Sully” ($240M). On October 27, we’ll know more about the fate of “Juror #2” as that’s when it’s supposed to world premiere at AFI.