What's wrong with Clint Eastwood's film? Juror #2? Warner Bros.' The new thriller wrapped up AFI Fest, Los Angeles' long-running film festival, on Oct. 27 — and the 94-year-old filmmaker was nowhere to be found.

Eastwood skipped the world premiere because Variety reported that the studio would “bury” the film with a limited theatrical release. Stars Toni Collette and Nicholas Hoult were on hand to introduce the film Sunday night, when AFI president Bob Gazzale told a disappointed audience that the Oscar winner “couldn't be with us tonight, but we're here for him.”

Well, plot twist. Juror #2 has actually received mostly positive reviews from critics, with IndieWire calling the legal drama “one of the best studio films of 2024.”

What is the film about – and what happens when it is released?

The courtroom drama follows a family man, Justin Kemp (Hoult), who sits on a jury for a murder case. During the trial he realizes that he knows something about the night the woman died. He faces a moral dilemma: whether to convince his colleagues to convict the wrong murderer or face his past.

On Friday, a Variety report detailed the enigmatic launch of Eastwood's 40th directorial feature. Two sources claim this Juror #2 will be playing in fewer than 50 theaters starting November 1st. There are reportedly no plans to expand it after the limited release.

There is no date for when the film will be available on-demand or when it will land on the studio's streaming platform Max. Yahoo Entertainment has reached out to Warner Bros. for comment but has not received a response.

The verdict is: Jury No. 2 impressed critics

It's not uncommon for a film to have a limited release… if it's bad. Early reviews of Juror #2 were mostly positive.

“At 94, this remarkable filmmaker not only still has it, he actually has it in abundance, more than half his age,” wrote Deadline, which called the film “riveting.”

“The film not only rises to the occasion, it surpasses it,” IndieWire's review says, calling the film “a retro character study reminiscent of the kind of mid-budget hits made at Warner Bros. Have caused a stir for 50 years.”

Variety called it an “unlikely but compelling courtroom drama.”

The Hollywood Reporter praised the acting and the script's “narrative twists.”

Eastwood's history with Warner Bros.

The studio may not have forgotten the last Eastwood project it backed, his 2021 flop Scream macho. Eastwood starred and directed the film about a down-and-out rodeo star who is hired to bring a man's son home and away from his alcoholic mother.

The film performed poorly at the box office and was panned by critics. It only grossed about $16 million worldwide, despite the film's production budget being more than double that.

When Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav took over the company's reins in 2022, he reportedly asked executives about the reasons for the distribution Scream machoif they had reservations about the performance, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some executives pointed to their long and successful history at Eastwood since 1975 (American sniper, Unforgivable, Million Dollar Baby). They emphasized that Eastwood had never turned in a film late or over budget. Zaslav was reportedly not impressed by this argument.

Eastwood's cast praises him at the premiere

Although the Oscar-winning director didn't attend Sunday night's festivities, he was recognized by his colleagues.

According to Variety, Collette praised Eastwood “as a director, which still amazes me… but he's a really good, solid person. Meeting him was incredible.”

Hoult told People that Eastwood “is cinema in many ways, as an actor, the performances he's given, the films he's directed.”

“It's just magical being on set with him and having learned from him. So I feel very, very lucky,” the actor added, noting that Eastwood has “such ease in how he builds people and how much trust he has in them” and the trust he has in audiences.

“And I think that’s really special, and I’ll always take that into account in this experience,” concluded Hoult.

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