‘No, it’s not A24’: Neon CEO shares an upsetting look into their biggest competitor and ‘Hit Man’ dreams
Netflix loves to buy a film, throw it on streaming, and leave it there to die. The streaming platform pushed for Emilia Pérez during Oscars season but left films like Hit Man in the dark despite the quality of the Richard Linklater film.
Now, I’ve learned information that has made me see red. To be clear, I love Hit Man very dearly. It is one of my favorite films of 2024. And I was very vocal online about the fact that I thought the movie deserved to be nominated for awards, specifically for the adapted screenplay that Linklater and Powell wrote together.
For whatever reason, Netflix sent one “For You Consideration” to press and that was it. Furthermore, it was not available on the Critics Choice app as one of the submitted films (Netflix’s submissions seemed to be Emilia Pérez and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl). Which begs the question: Why did Netflix put all its eggs in Emilia’s basket? Did they not trust that Hit Man would be successful for them?
What I have learned today that is upsetting is that Hit Man could have landed with the indie distribution company known as Neon. The company helped release films like I, Tonya and the Oscar-winning Best Picture, Anora. In a new interview with Variety, Neon CEO Tom Quinn shared who the company’s competition for movies is (it isn’t A24 like people thought) and gave some insight into what movies Neon was outbid on by Netflix. Hint: One is Hit Man.
“The industry thinks there’s a rivalry [between Neon and A24], and there’s not,” Quinn said. “It’s good headlines. I thought they might be our biggest competitor. But as it turns out, our biggest competitor has been Netflix. They desperately tried to beat us to buy I, Tonya and Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and we ended up losing out to them on Hit Man, May December, and Fair Play. There’s a slew of movies where I’m the second-highest bidder [to Netflix].”
My dreams of a theatrical run of Hit Man were closer to coming true than I thought
I was lucky. My press screening for Hit Man was at owned Paris Theater in New York. I saw the film on the big screen and I truly had a light changing experience. If you haven’t seen it, I talk about Powell’s Patrick Bateman impression a lot. But I got to experience that magic in theaters.
It was a group experience, the audience was laughing and gasping all together and often with Netflix films, we miss that community experience with movies because the streaming platform does not afford their films a theatrical release. Or if they do, it is extremely limited and only available in major cities.
It then limited the conversation about Hit Man. My little corner of the internet shared our love and support for the film but it stopped being in the awards conversation with Emilia Pérez got a push. The point here being that if a studio like Neon could have gotten Hit Man, maybe it would have had a chance at the praise and accolades it deserves. But I don’t like that three movies I genuinely liked that were all (for the most part) ignored come award season could have had Neon backing them instead.
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