Never mind that Linklater himself has publicly groused about the “suddenly it’s there … so what?” rollout for his last movie on Netflix, the animated coming-of-age drama Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood, which premiered to warm reviews at SXSW last year. After initial interest from multiple buyers (“mostly the streaming services,” an article in The Hollywood Reporter archly notes), ardor from theatrical distributors all but evaporated. Which makes Netflix’s eye-watering $20 million distribution rights deal for Hit Man that was announced on Monday all the more confounding. That is to say: Unlike so many minutely observed, independently financed, take-your-medicine-style dramas that force contemplation of uncomfortable yet socially redemptive subjects at Venice and the Toronto International Film Festival (where the movie made North American landfall on September 11), Hit Man pulses with mass appeal it has been anointed by cultural first responders as an unapologetically entertaining, outrightly commercial offering with the strong potential to put butts in theater seats. ![]() The character-driven comedic noir - which stars Glen Powell as a mild-mannered poseur assassin who sets up sting operations for the New Orleans PD - is being described as a “crowd-pleaser” with a career-defining “movie-star turn” by Top Gun: Maverick supporting player Powell (who also co-wrote Hit Man and served as a producer). Since earning a six-minute standing O during its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, writer-director Richard Linklater’s Hit Man has become one of festival season’s most ecstatically reviewed films. A rainmaking sales agent walks us through what happened. ![]() The Glen Powell-starring festival smash seemed destined for theaters and maybe awards season.
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