Clint Eastwood's new movie became a hit among senior audiences less than a week after premiere

By Rodolfo Vieira

Dec 19, 2018

11:56 A.M.

Despite his advanced age, Clint Eastwood still manages to be a force to be reckoned with when it comes to making a profit as both an actor and a director.

The 88-year-old legend recently scored a major victory with his newest project, "The Mule," and it was mostly thanks to his longtime fans and followers.

According to the numbers, the Warner Bros.' drama had a $17.2 million debut during the weekend, one of the best starts ever for a film directed by Eastwood.

GREAT NUMBERS OVERALL

Although "The Mule" came in second place on the weekend box office race, losing only to "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," which made $35.4 million, the numbers can be easily explained.

Super-heroes are in vogue at the moment and people choose them over anything else, even if it's an animated movie such as "Into the Spider-Verse," but their audience greatly differs from Eastwood's.

It has been reported that, unlike Spider-Man's movie, half the audience for "The Mule" was over the age of 35, including 17 percent over the age of 45 and another 17 percent over the age of 55.

Overall, 80 percent of the people who went to the movies to see "The Mule" were 35 and older, which is a great indicative that Eastwood's movies are more appealing to an older crowd.

STILL ENGAGING DESPITE HIS AGE

Given his decades-old career, this comes as no surprise as the actor turned director was able to gather a legion of hardcore fans throughout the years.

According to Distribution Chief for Warner Bros., Jeff Goldstein, even though Eastwood's audience is aging, 'they still want to see him on the big screen and they still want to hear what he has to say.'

ANOTHER DRAMATIC MASTERPIECE

"The Mule" is a movie for drama lovers all over the world and one of Eastwood's most anticipated projects as it marks the actor's return to the big screen since 2012.

The film revolves around a cantankerous man in his 80s who finds himself in a tough financial spot, forcing him to take a job as a driver, which doesn't turn out to be as he expected.