Xuenou > Featured > Netflix Swoops In With $50 Million Purchase of Emily Blunt, David Yates Film ‘Pain Hustlers’
Netflix Swoops In With  Million Purchase of Emily Blunt, David Yates Film ‘Pain Hustlers’
Netflix is spending $50 million on the Emily Blunt, David Yates conspiracy thriller 'Pain Hustlers.'

Netflix Swoops In With $50 Million Purchase of Emily Blunt, David Yates Film ‘Pain Hustlers’

Netflix is wrapping up a deal for “Pain Hustlers,” a conspiracy film from David Yates that is set to star Emily Blunt.

The pact, which is for global rights to the package, is said to be in the $50 million range, according to a knowledgable insider. The sale is the biggest one so far out of Cannes, where dealmaking has been slow going. Netflix has been enduring some headaches of its own — a drop in subscribers triggered a stock sell-off, which led to layoffs and mounting skepticism about the streamer.

“Pain Hustlers” boasts a script by “The True American” writer Wells Tower, and the film is produced by Lawrence Grey through his Grey Matter Productions banner and Wychwood Pictures.

The movie’s official logline reads: “Dreaming of a better life for her and her young daughter, Liza Drake (Blunt), a high-school dropout, lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical start-up in a yellowing strip mall in Central Florida. Liza’s charm, guts and drive catapult the company and her into the high life, where she soon finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy with deadly consequences. In the vein of ‘The Big Short,’ ‘American Hustle’ and ‘The Wolf of Wall Street,’ ‘Pain Hustlers’ is a hilarious, dramatic and wild journey to the corrupt heart of the American dream.” Well, everyone is feeling pretty great these days about the viability of that dream, so the film should find a receptive audience.

Blunt is the star of “Edge of Tomorrow” and “Into the Woods.” She recently appeared in “Jungle Cruise.” Yates has directed several Harry Potter films, as well as the less-successful Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them films, which are Wizarding adjacent.

CAA Media Finance and The Veterans are repping the film at Cannes. A spokeswoman for CAA declined to comment, a spokesperson for Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Deadline first reported the sale, which has been in the works for several days. Production on “Pain Hustlers” is set to begin on Aug. 22.