At this year’s Venice Film Festival, not only David Fincher’s hitman thriller “The Killer” wowed audiences, but also Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man” – which some thought was even better. Netflix has now snagged the highlight.
As every year, FILMSTARTS was of course also present at the 2023 Venice Film Festival – and was able to attend the world premiere of “The Killer”. The new thriller highlight from “Seven” and “Fight Club” maker David Fincher was already a big topic of conversation in advance, is one of the potential highlights of the year for many film fans and, in our opinion, was able to absolutely fulfill the high expectations (4.5 stars in the FILMSTARTS review). With “Hit Man” by Richard Linklater, which Netflix has now (also) snatched up, the situation is a little different:
The “Boyhood” maker not only had the misfortune that his film premiered shortly after “The Killer,” which was similar and simply outstanding, at least at first glance. Even experts felt the same way in Venice as probably many readers of this article: they had never heard of “Hit Man” before! The reactions were all the more euphoric:
While the film generated even more enthusiasm among many in Venice than the new Fincher, the FILMSTARTS review also gave it a strong 4 out of 5 possible stars. And with 98 percent positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and 82 out of 100 points on Metacritic (as of September 19, 2023), “Hit Man” is already one of the best-reviewed films of the year.
Netflix recognized the film’s potential – and jumped right in: The streaming provider has now secured the rights to “Hit Man” in a record deal for $20 million.
As Deadline first reported, the biggest deal of the year so far came in the course of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), covering the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, Iceland, Hong Kong, South Korea and several other Asian countries. Mike Fleming Jr. of Deadline had also heard that a theatrical release was also on the cards. Since Germany is not among the countries listed for which Netflix has secured the rights, there could end up being a regular theatrical release of “Hit Man” here. Officially confirmed details are not yet available …
.. quite the opposite of “The Killer”: from October 26, 2023, the thriller will be available in selected cinemas throughout Germany, before it then comes to Netflix on November 10 already.
THIS IS WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT IN “HIT MAN “
Actually, Gary Johnson (Glen Powell, “Top Gun: Maverick”) teaches psychology. On the side, however, the professor works for the police – in a very special role. For he pretends to be a professional killer for the authorities in order to convict people who want to commission a murder. But when one day the desperate Madison (Adria Arjona, “Star Wars: Andor”) sits before him, he throws his professionalism overboard.
Madison is being abused by her husband and wants to disable him once and for all. Instead of letting her pronounce her murder order and ultimately arrest her, however, Gary decides to help the young woman get away from her husband. But events continue to come to a head as he begins to reunite with Madison under his fake hitman alter ego…
