"Juror No. 2" was supposed to be a big hit at the box office when it first hit theaters in November. But whatever the reason, Warner Bros. The 94-year-old directed The most intense courtroom drama of 2024 with Juror No. 2", garnering stellar reviews and a 93% rating. Rotten tomatoes. However, Warner Bros decided not to play this legend's last directorial effort on screen and seemingly only released it in theaters so that the film could be eligible for awards consideration.

There is even more evidence that the studio should have given the film a wide release, as Juror No. 2” finally dropped on the Max streaming service and became an instant hit. Is that an argument in favor of holding back the film to ensure it makes more noise on streaming? Maybe, but as most will know by now, these streaming platforms don't make much money for the industry anyway, so a potentially bigger cashier would surely interest Warner CEO David Zaslav. Unfortunately, we're just not privy to the WB boardroom machinations, so the muted release for "Juror No. 2" will remain a mystery for now.

If you're Oscar-winning director and all-around Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood, having your latest movie unceremoniously dumped on streaming is certainly not the swan song you envisioned. Unfortunately, it will probably be of little comfort to see the film go well for Max. But that's fine, with the MAX crowd rallying behind Eastwood's latest effort almost immediately after it hit the MAX servers.

In "Juror No. 2" Nicholas Hoult, who will soon portray Lex Luthor in James Gunn's Superman. he plays husband and father-to-be Justin Kemp, who is called to the jury only to immediately realize that the man on trial is not guilty of murder. How does he know? Because once the trial begins, Justin realizes that he is almost certainly responsible for the victim's death, leading to a serious personal crisis that creates a compelling narrative enhanced by excellent performances from Toni Collette ("Knives Out") and J.K. Simmons ("Flash with a whip").

If that sounds like it could actually be pretty good, it seems Max's audience thinks so too. "Juror No. 2” hit the Max on December 20, following its anticlimactic theatrical debut the previous month. Almost immediately, the film proved to be a hit, with viewers around the world streaming the film and sending it to the top of the most viewed charts on the Warner Bros. streaming platform.

According to FlixPatrolsite that collects streaming viewership data, "Juror No. 2" is available in 48 countries worldwide as of December 23, 2024. More impressively, the film is number one in 19 of those countries, including the United States, where it topped the chart on December 22 and looks set to stay there for the foreseeable future. Interestingly, it took American viewers a bit longer than the rest of the world to send Clint Eastwood's latest film to the top spot, as Juror No. The US arrived a day later. The film has since remained at the top of the charts in 16 countries, which, while not the kind of send-off Eastwood was probably hoping for, is at least something.

As the holiday season continues, you can expect "Juror No. 2” will let loose as the audience belt out holiday classics in earnest. But if you look at Max charts, recently dominated by Kiernan Shipka's Thanksgiving-themed rom-com, you'll see Clint Eastwood's drama see competition not from the Christmas classic, but from the critically maligned "Joker: Folie à Deux," which became a streaming hit on the platform after his ignominious theatrical debut. The Clown Prince of Crime is currently in second place, with Tim Burton's Beetlejuice sitting in third place. Those movies have been on Warner's streaming service a bit longer than Juror No. 2,” so Eastwood's drama has every chance of staying at No. 1 for the rest of the Christmas season.

Meanwhile, if Eastwood is indeed planning to make another film, he'll have the right to throw a Christopher Nolan-style tantrum and leave Warners in the dust for his next film. For whatever reason, some executive at Warners (probably David Zaslav) seems to have thought this mid-budget legal drama would do terribly in theaters, and while I think you can make a case for Juror No. 2” to be more suitable for streaming at a time when mid-budget dramas just don't bring in big bucks at the box office, this is Clint Eastwood we're talking about. Leaving aside all evidence that "Jury No. 2” actually could have done quite well with a wide release, you have to give the man his flowers for goodness sake. At least he can rest easy knowing the streaming crowd has rallied behind his film and if nothing else, hopefully this whole debacle will only encourage him to make one more feature before calling it quits for good.