Juror #2 is the kind of movie audiences used to regularly get before the complete takeover of blockbusters: a taut, high-concept, adult thriller that isn’t full of spectacle and bombast. Directed by the iconic Clint Eastwood, a simple but complex story of a juror holding on to a horrific secret manages to maintain its tension and drama for less than two hours. It’s the kind of film we took for granted before Marvel changed movie theaters forever.

And that’s pretty apparent since Warner Bros. decided to kill Juror #2 before it even had a real chance at the box office.

Warner Bros. Is Guilty

Originally, Juror #2 was going to go straight to Max, the Warner Bros. streaming service. Immediately, film fans were confused that the movie was not going to receive a wide theatrical release. It has a notable ensemble cast, is a polished production, and is from a director with a storied history with the movie studio. The idea that the movie was going to completely skip theaters was more than a little odd.

Then, Warner Bros. changed their tune and decided to give Juror #2 an extremely limited theatrical run in the United States. The movie played in less than fifty theaters in the country and Warner Bros. didn’t report the box office earnings. Thankfully, the film did get an international theatrical release but that is rarely enough to make a serious dent in the cultural landscape these days.

Now, Juror #2 is heading to Max to stream on December 20 and is being branded as a Max Original. Will it manage to discover a bigger audience there instead of at the movie theaters? We’ll never know thanks to Warner Bros., but we can report something that seems obvious: people really, really like this movie.

Juror #2 Hits Big, No Thanks To Warner Bros.

Juror #2 released on video-on-demand rental platform iTunes and immediately shot to the number one spot. As of this writing, it is still the number one movie on iTunes five days later. Audiences were clearly intrigued about the film and energized enough by it to spend their money to rent it. In an age where “I’ll wait until it ends up on my streaming service” has become the de facto position for many consumers’ approach to movies, seeing a film like Juror #2 get such a large response from people willing to rent it says something worthwhile.

Audiences are always going to show up for your next blockbuster that has a multi-million dollar marketing campaign behind it. Everyone agog at the historic success of Barbie don’t seem to account for that film’s billion-dollar marketing budget. A movie like Juror #2 – surely given an infinitesimal fraction of Barbie’s marketing budget – managed to cut through the noise of every other piece of content vying for your attention. People want to see this movie.

So, good job, Warner Bros., for once again shooting yourself in the foot with a widely celebrated movie for adults. I doubt dumping Juror #2 is going to do wonders for your Max subscription numbers. Maybe the reason we don’t get movies like Juror #2 as often as we should has less to do with the audience and more to do with movie studios not knowing what the hell they are doing.

Watch Juror #2. It’s a damn good movie that shouldn’t need to fight to finds its audience.