Clint Eastwood's 'Juror No. 2' boasts a star director, great cast and positive reviews. So, why isn't it getting a wide release?

What is going on with Clint Eastwood's film Juror No. 2? Warner Bros.' new thriller closed out AFI Fest, the long-running Los Angeles film festival, on Oct. 27 — and the 94-year-old filmmaker was nowhere to be found.

Eastwood skipped the world premiere amid a Variety report the studio is "burying" the movie with a limited theatrical release. Stars Toni Collette and Nicholas Hoult were on hand to present the film on Sunday night as AFI president Bob Gazzale told a disappointed audience the Oscar winner "could not be here with us tonight, but we are here for him."

Well, plot twist. Juror No. 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 movie about — and what's happening with the release?

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

On Friday, a Variety report detailed a puzzling rollout for Eastwood's 40th directorial feature. Two sources claim Juror No. 2 will play in less than 50 theaters starting Nov. 1. There are reportedly no plans to expand it following the limited release.

There is no date for when the movie will be available for purchase on demand or when it will land on the studio's streaming platform Max. Yahoo Entertainment reached out to Warner Bros. for comment, but did not receive a response.

The verdict is in: Jury No. 2 impresses critics

It's not unusual for a movie to have a limited release … if it's bad. However, early reviews of Juror No. 2 have been largely positive.

"At 94, this remarkable filmmaker not only still has it, he actually has it in spades over some half his age," wrote Deadline, which called the film "riveting."

"Not only does the film rise to the occasion, it soars past it," read IndieWire's review, calling the film "a throwback character study that invokes the kind of mid-budget hits that kept the lights on at Warner Bros. for 50 years."

Variety called it an "unlikely but engaging courtroom drama."

The Hollywood Reporter praised the acting and "narrative twists" of the script.

Eastwood's history with Warner Bros.

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

The movie performed poorly at the box office and was panned by critics. It only made around $16 million worldwide, although the budget for making the film was more than double that.

When David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, took the reins of the company in 2022, he reportedly grilled executives about why they distributed Cry Macho, if they had reservations about how it would perform, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some executives pointed to their long and successful history with Eastwood since 1975 (American Sniper, Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby). They highlighted how Eastwood had never turned in a movie late or over budget. Zaslav was supposedly not impressed with this reasoning.

Eastwood's cast praises him at premiere

Although the Oscar-winning director was absent from festivities on Sunday night, he was recognized by his peers.

According to Variety, Collette applauded Eastwood "as a director, which still blows my mind ... but he is a truly good, solid human being. Getting to know him has been 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 magic to be on set with him and [to have] learned from him. So I feel very, very lucky," the actor added, noting Eastwood "has such an ease with how he creates and the trust he puts in people and the trust he puts in the audience.

"And I think that's truly special, and that's something that I'll always take on in this experience," Hoult concluded.