Like so many movies last year, Dune was delayed due to the pandemic throwing the theatrical industry into chaos. Originally set to drop on December 18, 2020, Warner Bros pushed back Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the same-named Frank Herbert sci-fi novel to October 1, 2021, but as of last Friday, the movie is now scheduled for October 22. However, Dune’s latest date shift is great news for folks looking forward to Clint Eastwood’s next movie.
Two years after he delivered Richard Jewell to the masses, Clint Eastwood will give us Cry Macho later this year, and now it’s arriving earlier than expected. Cry Macho was originally nestled in that October 22, 2021 slot, but now that Dune is sitting there, rather than delay Eastwood’s latest feature, Warner Bros decided to move it to September 17. The studio also moved The Many Saints of Newark, a.k.a. the Sopranos prequel, from September 24 to the October 1 date Dune previously held.
Although Cry Macho is now arriving three weeks earlier, it also enters a significantly more crowded opening weekend space. September 17 will also see the release of Clifford the Big Red Dog, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Copshop and Blue Bayou. Still, it’s a good bet Clint Eastwood’s new movie will draw in a lot of people, though Clifford will unquestionably be the cinematic draw for younger moviegoers and their families that weekend. Let’s also not forget that like Warner Bros’ other 2021 theatrical offerings, HBO Max subscribers will have the option of watching Cry Macho on the streaming service for one month at no additional cost.
Based on the same-named 1975 novel by N. Richard Nash, Cry Macho follows a former rodeo star in the late 1970s who’s hired by an ex-boss to take the man’s young son away from his alcoholic mother, though things become more complicated than expected. Eastwood’s costars include Eduardo Minett, Dwight Yoakam, Natalia Traven, Horacio Garcia Rojas and Fernanda Urrejola. Nash worked on the Cry Macho screenplay before his death in 2000, and Gran Torino’s Nick Schenk is credited as a co-writer.
N. Richard Nash originally pitched Cry Macho as a film, but after it was rejected twice by 20th Century Fox, he turned the screenplay into a novelization. Upon the book’s success, Nash was eventually able to sell the film version of Cry Macho to 20th Century Fox, and worked on its development for his remaining years. Clint Eastwood actually could have starred in Cry Macho back in the late 1980s, but decided to reprise Dirty Harry in The Dead Pool instead. Arnold Schwarzenegger was also once attached as the lead, but by 2011, that iteration of the project was cancelled.
By October 2020, Cry Macho was being housed at Warner Bros, and Clint Eastwood signed on to direct, produce and star in the movie. Along with Gran Torino, he and Nick Schenk previously collaborated on 2018’s The Mule. Now Cry Macho is a little under three months from wide release after decades in development hell. As we wait for its impeding arrival, don’t forget to look through our 2021 release schedule.
