‘Hit Man’ Mows Down ‘Godzilla Minus One’ As Film Trends Big On Netflix

Netflix already has a hit—so to speak—with the Glen Powell and Adria Arjona crime comedy Hit Man.

Hit Man—which is mostly based on a true story—debuted on the streaming service Friday. The movie is based on the crazy true story of Gary Johnson, a fake hit man who would go on undercover sting operations to help the Houston Police Department bust would-be criminals seeking assassins for hire.

Powell stars as Gary in the Hit Man, which is co-written by the actor and director Richard Linklater. The Texas natives’ screenplay is based on writer Skip Hollandsworth’s October 2001 Texas Monthly article Hit Man, which chronicled Gary’s remarkable life.

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As of Saturday, Hit Man was trending at No. 1 on Netflix’s Top 10 Movies list on the streaming app. Godzilla Minus One—Toho Studio’s critically acclaimed, Oscar-winning monster movie from 2023—immediately climbed atop Netflix’s movie charts when it made its surprise debut on the streamer on June 1.

Both Hit Man and Godzilla Minus One are among the 10 best-reviews movies that started streaming on Netflix in June.

On Saturday, Godzilla Minus One was No. 4 on Netflix’s Top 10 Movies list behind Hit Man, the 2024 Netflix original shark thriller Under Paris at No. 2 and the 2015 animated family comedy Home at No. 3. The fifth most popular movie on Netflix Saturday was the 2014 animated blockbuster The LEGO Movie.

How Was ‘Hit Man’ Received By Critics And Audiences?

For the movie adaptation of Hit Man, Richard Linklater and Glen Powell changed the setting of the true story of Gary Johnson from the Houston Police Department to the New Orleans Police Department.

It’s in New Orleans where Gary—a mild-mannered college teacher by day—works as a fake assassin. Gary’s winning personality and different disguises help him make a huge number of busts. But when Gary meets Maddy (Adria Arjona) and steers her away from her controlling husband instead of letting her fall for the sting, his life changes dramatically.

After Maddy divorces her husband, she and Gary fall for each other—but there’s a big problem that needs to be resolved. Maddy is not aware that her new love is a fake hit man and doesn’t know his real identity—and things get complicated if not dangerous after the two are spotted in public together.

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Hit Man received stellar notices by both critics and viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics gave Hit Man a 97% “fresh” rating based on 202 reviews, while verified users awarded the film with a 95% “fresh” audience score based on less than 50 ratings.

Hit Man is the latest in a string of hits for Powell, whose star began to rise considerably after he starred opposite Tom Cruise in the 2022 blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick. More recently, Powell starred opposite Sydney Sweeney in the hit romantic comedy Anyone but You and produced the Prime Video documentary The Blue Angels.

Powell will next take flight in July when he stars opposite Daisy Edgar-Jones in the action thriller Twisters.

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