Clint Eastwood appears in front of the camera in CRY MACHO. That’s a good sign.

At 91 years old, Clint Eastwood is showing no signs of slowing down. His next film, CRY MACHO opens in theaters and on HBO Max on September 17th. This week, Warner Bros. gave us key art and a trailer for the film.

Eastwood films fall into two categories. For the most post, he directs all his films. The difference is whether he also stars in them or if he stays behind the camera. For MACHO, he takes on double duty. That’s probably for the best.

When we look at his films from the past 20 years, the ones where he doesn’t appear tend to underperform. There are exceptions. MYSTIC RIVER and SULLY were big hits. And AMERICAN SNIPER was the highest-grossing film of 2014. But, the median total gross for films where he doesn’t appear is $37M.

Eastwoods batting average is much better when he also appears on screen. Three of the four films below grossed over $100. Only BLOOD WORK failed to crack $100M – perhaps because it doesn’t feature his trademark black poster. The median gross for films with him as the actor is $102M, more than twice as much as when he’s not on the screen.

Having Eastwood star in MACHO must make everyone at Warner Bros. excited. MACHO will be included in a Trailer Callback in a few weeks. The bad news is that MACHO ranks 76th among upcoming releases in awareness. The good news is that it can only go up.