Clint Eastwood has long been a legend. His name is synonymous with quality and exciting cinema, whether as an actor or a director.
But legends also grow old. Eastwood is now 94 years old, and there is persistent talk around Hollywood that he has made his “last film.” This was supposed to be the Juror #2 strip. But judging by the attitude of the studio Warner Bros, no one may not know about the “swan song” of the great Eastwood, writes The Wall Street Journal, quoted by profit.bg.
Juror #2 is the 40th film in Eastwood’s directorial career. Just a month ago, a glamorous premiere was organized in one of the most famous Hollywood movie theaters – TCL Chinese Theater. In fact, it was a festival during which other of his films were screened, such as American Sniper, which won an Oscar.
Eastwood himself wasn’t in attendance, but Juror #2 co-star Toni Collette was there, explaining that it’s an “old-school courtroom drama,” the WSJ reports. “They don’t make movies like that anymore,” she summed up.
After its premiere, however, Juror #2 completely disappeared. Warner Bros., which has backed all of Eastwood’s projects since the 1970s, released it in several theaters without any publicity. Only a trailer was released online.
Violating standard practice in film distribution, the company did not even announce the earnings, the so-called box office. Which means the studio probably doesn’t want to be judged on this tape’s earnings.
Warner claims that from the beginning they planned to release Juror #2 only on their own Max streaming platform. And the limited screenings were organized out of “respect for Eastwood” and everything he did.
But this is not quite true. Information about the project first appeared in mid-2023. And no one mentioned that the movie will be only for the Max platform. Even when asked about the premiere date, Warner did not mention any such plans. For its part, Max also didn’t say it would release an Eastwood film when it pitched its scheme to potential advertisers last spring.
Making a movie just for streaming is also completely at odds with the concept of new Warner boss David Zaslav. In fact, it was he who canceled this practice, explaining that it did not make much financial sense.
However, the quiet release of a film by an artist like Eastwood is quite indicative of how cinema is changing in the name of corporate interests. The victim here is the relationship between studio and creator, but not only. artists have less and less control over how their art will be distributed.
Warner declined to comment on the matter. About hiding revenue data, they say they don’t consider this information essential. There is no date for the premiere on the streaming platform. Eastwood’s lawyers also had no comment.
However, the studio’s actions could be interpreted as a display of disloyalty. Anonymous executives say their bosses didn’t believe in the success of Juror #2 and weren’t willing to spend millions promoting it.
“But this is Clint Eastwood, one of the few people who can be called iconic. If you do this to him, what signal are you sending to others? That you don’t believe in their talent?” Stephen Galloway, dean of Champaign University’s film school, was quoted as saying by the WSJ.
The truth is that Warner has suffered a few disappointments recently, mostly with the launch of titles like Joker: Folie à Deux, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and the horror films The Watchers and Trap. Director Zaslav recently commented that they need to improve the performance and described the current work as “inconsistent”.
Eastwood and Warner have a long and successful history
As an actor and director, he has starred in Oscar-winning films such as American Sniper, Million Dollar Girl, and more. In addition, Eastwood is known as a person without many pretensions, who knows how to respect schedules and restrictions. Often times he doesn’t even spend the entire budget on the film. His last film for Warner was the western Cry Macho, released on their streaming platform in 2021. A few months later, Zaslav questioned whether they should have released the film at all because of doubts about its eventual profits.
It could somewhat be argued that Eastwood’s film’s disappearance from theaters is also a victim of the “I’ll stream it at home” phenomenon. Revenues from these types of films aimed at older audiences have been steadily declining. This year, it is expected to be 1.6 billion. dollars from a total of 38 films. Last year it was 1.9 billion. of 27 tapes, including the super successful Oppenheimer. And 2024 was also marked by failures of established names in cinema – Francis Ford Coppola with Megalopolis and Kevin Costner with the first part of the western series Horizon. Compared to these films (often with a budget of more than 100 million dollars), however, Juror #2 is quite modest – only 35 million was spent on it. dollar.
The main role is entrusted to Nicholas Hult, in the image of a juror who must decide a case about the murder of a woman, in which he finds himself involved. Collette plays the role of a prosecutor whose goal is to achieve a conviction, regardless of the fact that the suspect may turn out to be innocent.
The good reviews of the film apparently provoke people to go see it, even though there is no advertising. Director Ozzy Rodriguez saw it twice, the second time bringing along a friend to hear his opinion.
“It wasn’t superhero nonsense,” Rodriguez says. Finally, someone to deal with something as important as the judicial system. Obviously, this is Eastwood’s last film, and he is 94 years old. Why was the film swept under the rug then?’
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