Warner Bros. destroyed one of the best movies of the year, now it’s a hit

Pa Drew Dych
| Published 3 days ago

Jury No. 2 it’s the kind of movie that audiences tend to see before blockbusters take over: a taut, high-concept thriller for adults that isn’t full of spectacle and pomp. Directed by the famous Clint Eastwood, the simple yet complex story of a juror who harbors a terrible secret keeps the suspense and drama alive in less than two hours. This is the movie we took for granted before Marvel changed theaters forever.

And it is obvious, because Warner Bros. decided to kill Jury No. 2 before it even had a real chance at the box office.

Warner Bros. guilty

initially, Jury No. 2 was going to go right away MaxWarner Bros. streaming maintenance. Moviegoers were immediately confused by the fact that the film is not going to be widely distributed. It has a notable cast, a polished performance from a director with a notable studio history. The idea that the film would skip theaters entirely was beyond amazing.

Then Warner Bros. changed their tune and decided to give Jury No. 2 extremely limited theatrical release in the United States. The film played in less than fifty theaters in the country, and Warner Bros. did not report box office revenues. Fortunately, the film received an international theatrical release, but that’s rarely enough to seriously disrupt the cultural landscape these days.

now, Jury No. 2 is headed to Max to air on December 20th and is called Max Original. Will it be possible to find a larger audience there than in cinemas? We’ll never know thanks to Warner Bros., but we can report one thing that seems obvious: people really, really like this movie.

Juror #2 made it big, not thanks to Warner Bros.

Jury No. 2 released on the video-on-demand platform iTunes and immediately took the number one spot. As of this writing, five days later, it is still number one on iTunes. Audiences were clearly intrigued by the film and energized by it enough to spend money on the box office. In an era where “I’ll wait until it’s on my streaming service” has become the de facto stance for many consumers in approaching movies, watching a movie as Jury No. 2 to get such a great response from people willing to rent it says something worth noting.

Audiences will always come to your next blockbuster with a multi-million dollar marketing campaign behind it. Everyone is worried about the historic success Barbie doesn’t seem to take into account the movie’s billion dollar marketing budget. Movie as Jury No. 2 – an infinitesimal fraction is probably given BarbieMarketing Budget – Managed to cut through the noise of any other content vying for your attention. People want to see this movie.

So, good job, Warner Bros., for shooting yourself in the foot again with a widely acclaimed adult film. I doubt about dumping Jury No. 2 will do wonders for your Max subscription numbers. Maybe that’s why we don’t get movies like this Jury No. 2 as often as we should, less to do with audiences and more to do with movie studios who don’t know what the hell they’re doing.

Look Jury No. 2. It’s a damn good movie that doesn’t have to struggle to find its audience.