Netflix has made the biggest deal of the year at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, acquiring the noir comic thriller Hit Man for a whopping $20 million. The film, directed Richard Linklater and starring Glen Powell and Adria Arjona, received critical acclaim at the Venice Film Festival and was highly anticipated at Toronto. The performances of Powell and Arjona are expected to elevate their careers, particularly Powell, who co-wrote the script with Linklater, marking a significant breakout role for him.
The deal gives Netflix distribution rights for various territories, including the US, UK, Australia/New Zealand, India, and several Southeast Asian countries. Additionally, there is a theatrical component to the agreement, adding further anticipation for the film’s release.
While TIFF had been relatively slow on the deal front, this acquisition marks the second major deal for Netflix at the festival, following the acquisition of Anna Kendrick’s Woman of the Hour for around $11 million. It is expected that more deals will follow now that Hit Man’s acquisition has been settled.
Hit Man, loosely based on a Texas Monthly article Skip Hollandsworth, tells the story of Gary Johnson, a school teacher who leads a double life as a phony hit man for the New Orleans Police Department. The film explores the complexities of his life when he meets a mysterious and beautiful young woman who asks him to kill her suffocating and abusive husband. As they connect romantically, he grapples with the need to hide his true identity from someone he is falling for. The plot thickens as he becomes entangled in a web of crime.
The film is a co-production between AGC Studios, Shivhans Pictures, Monarch Media, A Barnstorm Co., and Aggregate Films. It was filmed in New Orleans and features an ensemble cast that includes Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Molly Bernard, and Evan Holtzman.
The deal for Hit Man was negotiated CAA Media Finance, Cinetic Media, and AGC’s Business & Legal Affairs.
