Netflix continues its record-making streak of acquisitions out of the Toronto Film Festival, as they have secured the global rights of Richard Linklater’s action comedy Hit Man (2023) for $20 million, making it the biggest acquisition out of the festival. The news comes on the heels of the streaming giant closing in on Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman of the Hour (2023), for $11 million, shortly after its worldwide premiere at the festival. The purchase puts the deal on par with Netflix’s $20 million deal at the Sundance Film Festival, where they acquired Chloe Domont’s Fair Play (2023) earlier in the year.

Hit Man stars Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, a teacher who moonlights as an undercover hitman who uses his wicked charisma to entrap people looking for his services. Things get complicated once he becomes entangled with Adria Ajorna’s Maddy, a desperate woman trying to flee her abusive husband, looking to Gary for his services. No specific details have been reported in terms of there being a theatrical exhibition for the coming fall, but it was part of the stipulations of the deal. 

The film is co-written by both Powell and Linklater, based on a Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth in 2001. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival to great enthusiasm and acclaim for the “perfect blend of comedy and action.” This marks the third collaboration of Linklater and Powell, after their previous collaboration, Everybody Wants Some (2016), in which Powell played a supporting character. Linklater and Powell find themselves back in the Netflix sandbox after delivering the service of his third rotoscoped animated coming-of-age drama, Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood (2022).

Credit to Deadline Hollywood

Feature Image Credit to AGC Studios