John Grisham’s ‘Runaway Jury,’ With Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman, is a Hit on Netflix

Runaway Jury, one of the best legal thrillers based on a John Grisham novel, has entered Netflix’s top 10. The film features an incredible cast, which includes John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and Rachel Weisz, and was directed by Reacher’s Gary Fleder. Runaway Jury currently sits at number seven in the United States and in the Netflix top 10 worldwide.

The movie is about a lawyer named Wendell Rohr (Hoffman), who is up against Rankin Fitch (Hackman), a shady jury consultant who is able to stack juries in the favor of the defense. In a high-stakes trial against a gun manufacturer following a workplace shooting in New Orleans, one juror (Cusack) and his girlfriend (Weisz) appear able to manipulate the jury to deliver the verdict they wish.

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The film earned high praise upon its release in 2003, and it currently holds a positive 73% critical and 75% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The critical consensus said, “An implausible but entertaining legal thriller,” which is accurate. However, it wasn’t a box office hit when it opened in Oct. 2003, earning only $80 million on a $60 million budget. But it’s fun to watch Hoffman and Hackman go toe-to-toe and both actors end up chewing the scenery. It was also one of the final two films Hackman was in before he retired from acting in 2004, which could be why it’s charting on Netflix.

There was a time in the 1990s and 2000s when a new John Grisham novel or movie was as highly anticipated as one from Michael Crichton. Both became two of the most popular writers of their time, and in 1993, Jurassic Park and The Firm (with Tom Cruise) both launched Crichton and Grisham into the stratosphere. According to his bio, Grisham has had 50 consecutive number one books and has sold over 300 million copies worldwide, as of 2020.

John Grisham Remains Busy in Hollywood

Paramount Pictures

After 30-plus years of film and television hits, Hollywood continues to adapt Grisham’s novels into major critical, box office, and ratings hits. There is a new TV series being developed that’s based on the prolific author’s hit novel and 1997 movie, The Rainmaker, which starred Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, and Claire Danes and was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It follows a young lawyer, having just passed the bar exam, taking on a high-powered law firm in an insurance case. John Slattery (Mad Men, Tony Stark’s dad, Howard, in the MCU) was cast last year, joining Milo Callaghan (Dune: Prophecy) and will be part of the “Grisham Universe” of shows. It is set to debut this year on the USA Network.

Meanwhile, Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Homecoming) has been inked to star in the film adaptation of Grisham’s 1997 novel, The Partner. It’s strange to think that the book was never adapted, but it has been in development for years. At one point, John Lee Hancock planned on following up his hit film The Blind Side with the adaptation, but it never got off the ground.

Source: John Grisham’s Website

Runaway Jury

Release Date

January 16, 2003

Runtime

127 minutes

Director

Gary Fleder

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