Crime 101: Amazon and Netflix are in a bidding war for heist film that has Chris Hemsworth and Pedro Pascal attached

Last Updated on August 30, 2023

Netflix and Amazon are currently competing for a lucrative package deal. The two streaming giants are in a bidding war over a novella by Don Winslow called Crime 101. The package includes two attached stars — Chris Hemsworth and Pedro Pascal. It also has a director set to helm the project with Bart Layton, whose credits include the documentary The Imposter from 2012 and American Animals from 2018. The bidding war for the property may have been narrowed down to Netflix and Amazon, but Deadline is reporting that Amazon currently has the edge in the fight.

Although the actors and directors are attached, there is currently no deal in place, according to sources. Prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, both Hemsworth and Pascal were showing interest and, presumably, both had been forbidden to do any official business once the strike had taken place. At this point, it is reportedly more of a rights deal with a producer who is based out of the UK. Crime 101 is said to be a crime drama in the vein of Michael Mann’s Heat.

According to Deadline, the plot involves “high-level jewel thieves are taking place up and down the Pacific Coast and police have linked the thefts to the Colombian cartels. Detective Lou Lubesnick has other ideas, and he zeroes in on one perp, a thief looking for a final score.” Additionally, they report that HarperCollins had published the heist story as part of the Don Winslow collection, Broken, in 2020.

Hemsworth is recently coming off a sequel to one of his Netflix action-spectaculars with Extraction 2. The star had also been involved with a series for National Geographic titled Limitless, where the star has been introspective about human capabilities and, with a recent revelation that his blood showed he is predisposed to illness, the Thor actor decided to take a small break and spend time with his family. Meanwhile, Pedro Pascal’s breakout hit The Last of Us will be developing its second season, and the star was busy filming Gladiator 2 when the unfortunate events of the strike shut down production.