Clint Eastwood’s New Film Being Buried By Warner Bros
At 94 years old, Clint Eastwood’s courtroom drama Juror #2 will premiere at the AFI Fest in LA, with a limited release in theaters from Warner Bros. to follow. Originally intended to be a streaming release, the theatrical release from the 50-year Warner Brothers veteran will only make it to about 50 theaters. Clint Eastwood has brought Warner Brothers several box office smash hits, including the 2014 feature American Sniper, which was the highest-grossing domestic film of the year (beating out Guardians of the Galaxy), so the studio’s snub for Juror #2 seems like a harsh treatment for such a loyal filmmaker.
Diminishing Returns
Part of the reason that Juror #2 isn’t getting the typical fanfare from the studio is that the last film Clint Eastwood made for Warner Bros., Cry Macho, was a major flop. It had a lukewarm critical reception, grossed less than $17 million, and wasn’t nominated for any awards, so there’s a chance the studio has lost faith in their oldest collaborator. Since Eastwood hasn’t been offered much in the way of awards or viewership in recent years, Warner Bros. may have decided it’s time to put their old horse out to pasture.
Another possible reason for the low-effort rollout on Juror #2 is that the studio that Clint Eastwood has partnered with for over 50 years, Warner Bros. was merged with Discovery, Inc. in 2022. Discovery, Inc, David Zaslav was quoted as saying “It’s not show friends, it’s show business,” referring to Cry Macho’s poor box office performance. The company clearly has profit priorities and expects even its nonagenarian employees to deliver stellar results.
Keeping Up With The Times
Due to the changing landscape of the film business, a loyal relationship between a director like Clint Eastwood and a studio like Warner Bros. is increasingly rare. Between the pandemic, the rise of streaming as the major driver of success in the entertainment world, and the writers and actors strike, recent years have been hard on old-timers, and even an accomplished director with a plethora of successful projects like Eastwood is no exception. The slippery measures of success that increasingly rely on the fickle tastes of a streaming audience combined with the use of algorithms to promote projects means that what worked even ten years ago likely isn’t practical today.
Additionally, he called an entire generation of people who liked his movies a “p**sy generation” and accused them all of laziness in a 2016 interview. Clint Eastwood’s comments directed towards the largest demographic of media consumers might be partially responsible for his lack of popularity over the following few years, as well as Warner Bros.’s decision to de-prioritize his current projects, although it’s true that there are plenty of Clint Eastwood fans who would agree with his remarks.
Clint Eastwood’s Final Movie?
Since the upcoming Clint Eastwood project, Juror #2, will likely be his last, Warner Bros. has gone along with a planned release, however limited. The theatrical release is planned for November 1st of this year and the film will likely be available for streaming in late December. Eastwood’s 40th film, Juror #2 will play at select theaters in New York, LA, and a few others in the US.
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