One of Sinners star Michael B. Jordan and Hollywood icon Jamie Foxx’s most underrated movies is heading to HBO Max. Following the recent Oscar nod, Jordan has been extremely popular, and fans rushed to streaming services to watch more of his movies.
2019’s Just Mercy is officially heading to HBO Max as its new streaming home. Better yet, fans have just one more day left to wait before Just Mercy joins the HBO Max streaming library on Feb. 1.
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton from a screenplay co-written alongside Andrew Lanham, which itself was adapted from Bryan Stevenson’s 2014 memoir of the same name, Just Mercy stars Jordan as a mildly dramatized version of Stevenson himself. The film follows Stevenson as he and Brie Larson’s Eva Ansley form the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama and work to free Jamie Foxx’s Walter McMillian from death row.
The core cast of Just Mercy is rounded out by Rafe Spall as Tommy Chapman, Darrell Britt-Gibson as Darnell Houston, O’Shea Jackson Jr. as Anthony Ray Hinton, Tim Blake Nelson as Ralph Myers, Rob Morgan as Herbert Richardson, Lindsay Ayliffe as Judge Foster, and Rhoda Griffis as Judge Pamela Baschab. Just Mercy also includes appearances by Ron Clinton Smith, Dominic Bogart, C.J. LeBlanc, Norm Lewis, and Kirk Bovill.
Upon its release in 2019, Just Mercy was met with rave reviews from critics and audiences alike, with the film currently boasting 85% critical “Tomatometer” and 99% audience-generated “Popcornmeter” scores via review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Just Mercy was also nominated for 14 major industry awards, of which it won seven, including Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture at the 2020 NAACP Image Awards.
Despite only receiving a limited theatrical run, Just Mercy didn’t disappoint at the box office. Although it didn’t make a profit, Just Mercy finished fourth at the box office on its opening weekend and went on to gross more than $50 million against a $25 million budget.
What’s Next for Just Mercy Director Destin Daniel Cretton?
Currently, Just Mercy director Destin Daniel Cretton is lined up to see his name once again gracing the Marvel Cinematic Universe when Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrives in theaters on July 31. As Cretton’s first feature since 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the upcoming Spider-Man film marks a major occasion for the filmmaker, and may even secure him an even bigger MCU credit down the line.
Back in November 2025, it was reported that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige was looking toward Cretton as the director of the seventh Avengers film after Avengers: Secret Wars. Presumably, that decision hinges on the response that Spider-Man: Brand New Day receives once it makes its way into theaters.
As early as 2022, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu was singing Cretton’s praises and congratulating him for securing the role as director of the then-planned Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, stating, “What makes him such a special filmmaker, and I’ve said this from the beginning even when we were premiering our movie, is his ability to make a $150 million movie really, really small, in the best possible way.”
Just Mercy will be available for streaming on HBO Max beginning Feb. 1.
Release Date
December 25, 2019
Runtime
137 minutes
Director
Destin Daniel Cretton
Writers
Destin Daniel Cretton, Bryan Stevenson, Andrew Lanham
Producers
Gil Netter, Michael B. Jordan, Asher Goldstein
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Michael B. Jordan
Bryan Stevenson
