Emma Stone’s ‘Kinds of Kindness’ is Primed to Beat Glen Powell’s ‘Hit Man’ at Its Own Game and Its One Record Achievement Proves That

Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos’ collaboration has once again delivered a successful project in the form of Kinds of Kindness. The movie is a dark comedy and is currently dominating the box office despite its limited theater release. On the other hand, Glen Powell’s Hit Man recently moved to the streaming platform after having a limited release in theaters.

Hit Man is a crime drama that revolves around Glen Powell’s character, who works as a philosophy professor but is secretly a hitman for the police. The film is directed by Richard Linklater and shows the story of crime and the underworld in a comedic thriller style. 

Kinds of Kindness beats Hit Man in Limited Theatrical Release

Hit Man was released on May 24, 2024, in theaters in the USA, and it received a mediocre response from the audience. According to Box Office Mojo, the film grossed about $2.2 million before it finally went to Netflix on June 7, 2024. However, the movie has got a good response on Netflix. According to Luminate’s weekly viewership rankings (via Variety), Hit Man was the most-watched original in its first week of streaming itself.

But despite the limited release strategy just like Hit Man, Kinds of Kindness had a much better theatrical launch. The movie was released on June 21, 2024, and has collected over $350,000 in the domestic circuit (according to Box Office Mojo) in mere days from only five theaters, resulting in a per-theater average of $70,000, which is the highest of 2024 thus far. 

Kinds of Kindness is basically an anthology film that contains different interconnected stories. The movie has been well received by the audience so far, as it has already collected over $1.2 million worldwide and is planning to be released in 500 new locations by the next weekend (according to Collider).

The struggle of Hit Man in theaters with its limited release is something that the makers had already foreseen. In an interview with Texas Monthly, director Richard Linklater talked about the consequences of Hit Man‘s quick streaming release.

I think every single filmmaker whose film goes to Netflix has that conversation with them. You know, I have hopes that people will see Hit Man in theaters. But I also know that by the time a lot of them hear about the movie, it will be out of theaters.

Hit Man struggled to maintain its momentum in its transition from theaters to Netflix in its hybrid model of release. On the other hand, Kinds of Kindness, which was reportedly made within a budget of $15 million, has already surpassed Hit Man in terms of average earnings per theater and is looking to continue its run.

Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone’s Continued Success

Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone‘s earlier collaboration, Poor Things, was nominated for Academy Awards in multiple categories, and Stone won her Best Actress award as well. The movie reportedly had a limited release in nine theaters initially, and later it expanded to 2,300 theaters across the globe and made a worldwide collection of more than $117 million.

Kinds of Kindness is already following the Poor Things‘ strategy and is outdoing past results. The film’s narrative style and the nature of the story have been appealing to the audience so far, and it is expected to prove that on a larger scale as well.

Some of the main cast members of the film include Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, and Margaret Qualley, and they have played a significant role in the movie. These performances, when combined with Lanthimos’ directorial approach to creating art, make Kinds of Kindness a must-watch. 

To sum up, it can be said that the content of Glen Powell‘s Hit Man was not an issue for its low performance while it ran in theaters. Its short run played a major role here. The movie has a critical and audience rating of 96% and 91%, respectively, on Rotten Tomatoes, which itself shows the quality of the movie.

However, Kinds of Kindness‘ superior release strategy and star power, along with expectations from the award-winning collaboration of Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, proved much more beneficial for them.

Hit Man is now streaming on Netflix.

Kinds of Kindness is now running in theaters.