Hit Man Climbs HBO Max Charts in 2026 Streaming Surge

After making waves on Netflix back in 2024, the cheeky R-rated thriller Hit Man has found a new home and fresh success on HBO Max. The film, directed by Richard Linklater and featuring Glen Powell alongside Adria Arjona, has quickly become a favourite among punters, now sitting as the fourth most-watched film on the platform worldwide. It’s a solid comeback for a flick that already helped launch its stars into the limelight and gave Linklater another notch on his belt for offbeat, underappreciated gems.

Powell, fresh from the buzz of Anyone But You, and Arjona, known for her stint in Andor, teamed up with Linklater for this off-kilter blend of comedy and thriller. The story, loosely inspired by the real-life Gary Johnson, follows Powell’s character, a straight-laced uni lecturer who moonlights as a pretend contract killer for the local police. His job? To catch out folks looking to hire someone for a dodgy job. Things get complicated when Madison, played by Arjona, tries to hire him to take out her violent boyfriend. Instead of a simple sting, the pair end up tangled in a web of lies and attraction.

Streaming Success and Critical Praise

Since landing on HBO Max, Hit Man has been shooting up the charts, only trailing behind big hitters like Leonardo DiCaprio’s One Battle After Another, the live-action How to Train Your Dragon, and the horror flick Clown in a Cornfield. The script, co-written by Linklater, Powell, and Skip Hollandsworth, keeps things sharp and witty, with a storyline that’s as much about deception as it is about chemistry between the leads.

The official synopsis sums it up:

"Oscar-nominated director Richard Linklater's sunlit neo-noir stars Glen Powell as strait-laced professor Gary Johnson, who moonlights as a fake hit man for the New Orleans Police Department. Preternaturally gifted at inhabiting different guises and personalities to catch hapless people hoping to bump off their enemies, Gary descends into morally dubious territory when he finds himself attracted to one of those potential criminals, a beautiful young woman named Madison (Adria Arjona). As Madison falls for one of Gary's hit man personas — the mysteriously sexy Ron — their steamy affair sets off a chain reaction of play acting, deception, and escalating stakes."

Genre-Bending and Audience Reaction

Hit Man walks a fine line between a steamy thriller and a laugh-out-loud comedy, never quite settling on one side. That mix, though, seems to have struck a chord with viewers. The film boasts a near-perfect 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an 89% audience score to boot. Critics have called it a

"deceptively dark thriller that's also loaded with laughs, Hit Man is an outstanding showcase for leading man Glen Powell."

Fans haven’t held back either. One punter reckoned it was an

"excellent, fast-moving movie with an outstanding performance by Glen Powell, who is quickly becoming a superstar,"

while another praised the

"slick, nifty and benefitting from a sexy chemistry between Glen Powell and Adria Arjona."

The film’s blend of sharp humour, tension, and a bit of cheeky romance has clearly hit the mark for heaps of viewers.