Is there no justice for Clint Eastwood director ? Juror n°2the latest film from the 94-year-old American director was released in France on Wednesday. Released on 448 screens, it recorded just over 385,000 admissions in five days, for a total box-office takings of $3.1 million. If we add the five other territories (Spain, United Kingdom, etc.) outside the United States where the film is playing, the total takings reach 5 million dollars.
The highly scrutinized Wednesday morning opening at the UGC des Halles in Paris, considered a reliable indicator of a film’s commercial success, showed that 122 tickets sold for the screening of Juror n°2compared with 101 – still a very good score – for the Palme d’or. Anoramuch more publicized.
In the U.S., the dynamic is completely different. Released on Friday on just (!) 35 screens, it has only collected $90,000 at the box-office, as indicated on Tuesday by the website Ecran Large. “Initially, Warner didn’t want to release the film there at all. However, they decided to do so after Juror n°2 closed the American Film Institute (AFI) Festival at the end of October, which is a very prestigious event. 20 Minutes critic Philippe Rouyer, co-director of the magazine Positif. The idea was mainly to put it online on platforms.”
“The system has failed Clint Eastwood”
“The information is unconfirmed but, indeed, North American trade media suggest that this is a technical release to allow the film to compete at the Oscarsbut that the studio is banking mainly on streaming. on Max where it will arrive by the end of the year,” explains Damien Choppin, deputy editor-in-chief ofTotal Screen.
“The system has failed Clint Eastwood”, writes Bilge Ebirimagazine critic New York and for the Vulture website. He continues: “Despite his iconic stature, [ce réalisateur] is one of the few major filmmakers to make studio-funded adult dramas. In the eyes of a studio executive today, he must appear as a bug in the matrix – not an artist to be protected, but a mistake to be corrected.”
“In Hollywood, you’re worth the scores of your last films”
“Americans think that, at 94, Clint Eastwood is burnt out, that his cinema is dusty and not up to date with the times”, says Caroline Vié, film journalist at 20 Minutes. Juror n°2a film about a trial, a reflection on guilt, justice and truth, does little to counteract this prejudice. In Hollywood, you’re only as good as the scores of your last films,” explains Philippe Rouyer. If your last success was ten years ago, we consider that the wheel has turned.
Indeed, Eastwood’s last big international hit was American Sniper in 2015, with 547 million box-office receipts – including 350 million in the USA and 21.2 million in France. Cry Machoin 2021, was a flop, even in France, where it barely drew 200,000 admissions. At the U.S. box office, it took in $10.3 million on a budget of $33 million. In other words, it didn’t do Warner’s business – and the studio’s brass couldn’t have digested the loss.
Clint is no longer a prophet in his own country. “In the U.S., with platforms and a media chronology that’s very different from ours, the older, more cinephile audience that’s drawn to auteur films doesn’t necessarily exist anymore,” asserts Damien Choppin. At least, the studios aren’t banking on this market, preferring younger targets, with teenagers in mind.
“France was the first country to consider him an auteur”.
Eastwood still enjoys the loyalty of France, the only territory (along with Japan) where he enjoys a particularly solid aura, even if not all his films meet with public and/or critical success. “He’s historically very much loved here, while other countries find his cinema reactionary or devalue it. France was the first to consider him as an auteur. He has won the approval of Les Cahiers du cinéma that Positive [les deux revues cinéphiles de référence avec leurs chapelles généralement distinctes] and he is very popular with the general public, as evidenced by the audience figures when his films are shown on television,” emphasizes Philippe Rouyer.
It would be an exaggeration, however, to describe Clint Eastwood as a pest of American cinema. The critics of Juror n°2 in the United States are overwhelmingly positive. The New Yorker calls it a “lively, engaging thriller”. “You can’t blame Eastwood for resting on his laurels. Some artists half his age wouldn’t have the ability to make such intriguing ‘pulp fiction’ cinema,” hails Rolling Stones. In Chicago, the Third Coast Review may be jumping the gun in thinking this is the director’s final film, but notes that it is “a solid finale to a dignified career behind the camera”.
In the running for the Oscars, but with little breath
According to Fandom Wireconvinced Warner to embark on “a little campaign” for Oscar nominations. “It doesn’t mean much. The Oscars only work if the voters watch the films,” says Caroline Vié.
Winner of the Best Director trophy in 1993 for Merciless and 2005 for Million Dollar BabyClint Eastwood’s last nomination in this category dates back to 2007 with Letters from Iwo Jima. “It’s no longer a question of talent, but they may be thinking that he’s had his day, and won’t go looking for him at 94 broomsticks,” says the film journalist at 20 Minutes. In the race for the statuette, good old Clint seems already doomed without having been able to plead his case.