First of all, think of this: Clint Eastwood has made 11 movies since 2006’s “Letters from Iwo Jima,” which was in Japanese. And that was his second movie of 2006. The first was “Flags of Our Fathers.”
Now, “Richard Jewell” turns out to be his lowest grossing movie since “Iwo Jima” made $14 million– and was nominated for an Oscar. “RJ” is ending its theatrical run with about $21 million.
What a shame. It should have been nominated for an Oscar, and its actors as well. As it turns out, Kathy Bates has received an Oscar nomination. But Sam Rockwell, Paul Walter Hauser, and Olivia Wilde should have, too.
But when the Atlanta Journal Constitution attacked “Richard Jewell,” Warner Bros. just backed off and dumped the movie. There was no New York premiere, and not much chance for the movie’s champions to save it.
Last Friday, “Richard Jewell” was pulled from about 1500 theaters. It’s down to 376 this week and then it will disappear into streaming and DVD land. Eastwood is 89 years old. This could be his last film. He told me recently he had no plans for a new movie but was “reading scripts.”
What a run he’s had the last 28 years. His master-master piece was 1992’s “Unforgiven,” and that came 30 years into a remarkable career. Since then he’s had “Mystic River,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “Gran Torino,” “Sully,” the underrated “Perfect World” with Kevin Costner, “Trouble with the Curve,” “Space Cowboys” “J Edgar,” “The Mule,” and so many more. My guess is, Clint isn’t done. But maybe next time he’ll get more studio support.
