Adam Sandler may have been the jewel in Netflix‘s original comedy crown for years, but the Happy Madison Productions head honcho could soon be facing some stiff competition after it was announced that Kevin Hart and his Hartbeat outfit have signed an exclusive first-look deal with the streaming service, which is set to see the diminutive actor headline a quartet of movies.
As well as his onscreen presence, Netflix is going to be the home of all future Hartbeat content for the foreseeable future, making Hart the latest in a long list of big names to have committed themselves to the world’s most popular platform. The actor and Netflix already have plenty of history, too, with the company hosting his last standup special Zero F*cks Given, which was viewed by over 21 million subscribers in the first four weeks it was available.
Deep dive docuseries Kevin Hart: Don’t F*ck This Up was also a Netflix exclusive and followed the 41 year-old through one of his most turbulent periods, while he’s executive producing and starring in limited series True Story alongside Wesley Snipes, with the semi-autobiographical tale marking his first venture into small screen prestige drama.
Reports claim that this is the single biggest contract Netflix have handed out to a comedian since they last renewed their agreement with Adam Sandler to the tune of $150 million, so the executives are clearly confident that Hart’s content is going to pull in some pretty big numbers. What exactly he has planned for them remains to be seen, but the Central Intelligence star currently has two movies in the works from Sony, with drama Fatherhood and action comedy The Man From Toronto set for release this year before he takes up his new residency.