Friday, December 27, 2024

Amid More Layoffs, Netflix Dumps Expensive, Panned “Man from Toronto” with Kevin Hart, Woody Harrelson Onto Platform

You’re probably looking at Netflix and wondering, What the heck is The Man from Toronto?

Netflix is wondering that, too. (It has no connection to a far better sounding movie with the same name from 1933.)

Amid a new round of 300 layoffs, the troubled streamer has dumped an original comedy starring Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson onto their customers without a word of promotion.

The reason might be, it’s bad. On Rotten Tomatoes, “Man from Toronto” has a lowly 27%. Not even people in Toronto liked it.

The director is one Patrick Hughes, whose last outing, The Hitman’s Bodyguard’s Wife, garnered a similar 27%.

Even if “Man from Toronto” is terrible, a Kevin Hart movie would usually merit at least two weeks in theaters. Netflix could have set it loose in August. But then, people would have known about it. This way. it’s DOA.

“Man from Toronto” has a reported budget of $75 million, which ain’t cheap for a film with almost no marketing.

And Netflix counts down, meanwhile, to July 15th and the opening of “The Gray Man,” its most expensive film — $200 million — also without much marketing.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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