The headlines were brutal. Robert Zemeckis’ new movie received poor reviews and a B-Cinema Score from audiences Here Despite the chance to see the veteran director reunite with stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright for the first time since their groundbreaking Oscar-winning film, it opened to just $4.8 million from 2,642 North American theaters over the weekend of November 1-3. Forrest Gump thirty years ago.

Every major studio has gone through production Here When Miramax acquired the cross-generational metaphysical drama. Miramax sold its foreign rights and managed to secure a distribution deal with Sony’s Tri-Star, which had no money on the $45 million picture.

There’s a lot of competition for fall movies targeting older consumers. But this demo doesn’t exactly consist of frequent moviegoers. On the contrary, thanks to shortened windows and the rise of streamers in the post-pandemic era, older generations have become accustomed to watching new releases at home relatively quickly after they open in theaters. So when these audiences decide to go on stage, they pay close attention to what critics say. (More than 45 percent of viewers in both conclave And Here He was 55 and over, an unheard of statistic.)

Case in point Edward Berger and Focus Features’ award contender conclave It is one of the few adult dramas operating nationwide. Embellished with excellent reviews and a B+ Cinemascore, the film opened to $6.6 million the previous weekend. HereIt’s the best showing of the fall film festival entries, including Jason Reitman and Sony, which are plummeting at the box office. SNL love letter saturday night and anti-Donald Trump document Apprentice. And then there was Francis Ford Coppola’s mega bomb MegalopolisIt earned $13 million worldwide against a budget of $120 million. conclave even beat Here In its second weekend, it dropped 24 percent to $5 million from 1,796 theaters.

Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian says: “There’s been a real bit of auteur-driven movie malaise lately, as a number of films from some of the most notable and iconic filmmakers have met with audience indifference in this very challenging market environment.”

The box office analyst adds: “There are titles like: Megalopolis And Here“Cinemagoers, whose target audience is mature moviegoers, had a hard time creating the necessary ‘I want to see’ factor that translates awareness into actual moviegoing, and the box office suffered from this stark reality.”

Here I could take a lesson or two from Clint Eastwood’s book Jury #2.

Warner Bros. is looking for a spectacle when it comes to adult dramas. Discovery took a different approach and decided to make this drama a courtroom thriller from the very beginning. Maximum No problem with Eastwood.

The film was also released on the weekend of November 1-3. Here in numerous US cities after it was chosen as the closing night of the AFI Film Festival, but anyone wondering how that happened will never find out because it was just an awards qualifying effort and no grosses were reported. . Insiders say the play is being performed in around 35 theatres. The photo premiered to some critics and received a stellar 91 percent new critic score on Rotten Tomatoes; This led box office bloggers to predict that Warners would definitely change its mind and give the film a real theatrical release.

According to various sources speaking Hollywood ReporterIt’s not in the cards. Plans are underway to send the film, starring Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, JK Simmons and Paul Bettany, to Max during the Christmas holidays (the publisher has not announced an exact date).

The film’s budget is reportedly less than $35 million; a nationwide theatrical release would cost tens of millions of dollars in marketing costs.

Comparing theatrical and streaming is “a sensitive issue” for WBDPopcorn ProjectIn a surprise move orchestrated by Jason Kilar’s previous regime that outraged talent and theaters, the film gave dual day-and-date releases to all 2021 films in theaters and on the Max.

But growing the subscriber base is a top goal for WBD Chief David Zaslav, as it is for its streaming service rivals, and a Clint Eastwood movie would be an equally enticing stocking stuffer. Salem’s Lot it was. And Eastwood would probably be happy if the film was given an award-winning nomination (the prolific Eastwood is a beloved figure at Warners). No official statement has ever been made about this. Jury #2 Against the Theater is the first film made for Max.

Warners is publishing Jury #2 Theatrically in eight overseas markets where Eastwood is a beloved director, including France (it has already earned $5 million in six markets). While he is appreciated as a director in the US, he has also performed better when he was a star, although his last film was his last of 2021. Cry Machoit reached just under $17 million worldwide. 2019s Richard JewellThe film, which he directed solely, was also a huge disappointment and grossed $44 million worldwide. Same for 2018’s 15:17 to Paris. (He only appeared in the first of the three.)

Prior to this, he had a number of notable hitting streaks, to name just a few: Mule, American Sniper, Gran Torino — took part in all of them — and SullyStarring Hanks.

By avoiding a theatrical release, Eastwood and Warners could avoid the bad press Zemeckis and Hanks had to endure Here should do Jury #2 disappointed.

But not everyone is convinced that the decision is final. Jury #2destiny.

“A movie like this Jury #2 Thanks to the universal outpouring of critical praise given to the legendary and iconic Clint Eastwood’s newest and potentially final film, it will eventually find success and be able to build an audience and box office in this rather slow pre- and post-election theatrical market, just beyond that. It is an Academy run in theatres,” says Dergarabedian. “It is said that Jury #2 There will undoubtedly be a strong appeal for Max, which offers discerning movie fans the chance to watch a great adult drama from the comfort of their living rooms. From a creative perspective, there’s no doubt that the big screen will remain the best place to watch such a film, but ultimately it needs to make strategic and financial sense. “It is not an easy calculation to make.”