Development

In February 2016, it was announced that Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay would produce Hustlers, under their Gloria Sanchez Productions banner.^[6] The film was also produced by Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, and Jennifer Lopez through Nuyorican Productions.^[7] In May 2016, Annapurna Pictures was announced to co-produce and finance the film, with the studio's Megan Ellison and Chelsea Barnard serving as executive producers. In October 2018, it was announced Annapurna had dropped the film, with STX Entertainment acquiring distribution rights to the film.^[8] Annapurna allegedly dropped the film due to budget concerns.^[9][10]

Hustlers was directed by Lorene Scafaria from a screenplay she wrote.^[11] Upon first receiving Scafaria's script, Gloria Sanchez Productions first had Martin Scorsese in mind to direct, while also considering Adam McKay. Producer Jessica Elbaum stated that their initial approach was to "send this to the people that we've seen make this type of movie."^[12] After Scorsese and other directors passed on the project, producers ultimately gave Scafaria, who had refused to take on other directorial projects in hopes of directing Hustlers, the green-light to direct. Scafaria convinced the producers to hire her as director with a two-minute sizzle reel she created to demonstrate her concept.^[13][12] Scafaria described the "judgment that people have about strippers" as a challenge in getting the film made.^[12] According to producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, who was pitching Hustlers to a range of studios after Annapurna dropped it, "[the male studio executives] were a little uncomfortable. Everybody could see the commercial value of this movie, but they were like, 'Can they just drug the bad guys? Can they just do it to the people that deserve it?'"^[12]

Casting

After being chosen to direct, Scafaria spent two years casting for Hustlers.^[12] In August 2018, it was announced that Jennifer Lopez would star in the film.^[11] Lopez was Scafaria's first choice to play Ramona, stating: "as soon as I was done, I realized, Oh my God, Ramona is Jennifer Lopez [...] It has to be her."^[12] Lopez, who plays a veteran stripper in the film, began pole dance training with professional dancer and choreographer Johanna Sapakie two and a half months before filming in preparation for a scene that has Lopez performing a major solo pole dance routine without a professional stand-in.^[14][15] Constance Wu joined the cast in October,^[8] after putting herself on tape, noting: "I knew that my résumé at that point didn't really have anything that would indicate that I could pull off this role."^[12] In March 2019, Cardi B, Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer, Julia Stiles, and Mercedes Ruehl joined the cast with Mette Towley and Trace Lysette in negotiations to join as well.^[16] That same month, Madeline Brewer and Frank Whaley joined the cast of the film.^[17] Lizzo joined the cast of the film in April 2019,^[18] and Usher joined the cast in May.^[19] Scafaria had the idea to cast Cardi B, a former stripper, in the film, prompting Lopez to convince her to join the project. Lopez said: "I know she knew this world better than any of us. I told her she had to do it. And I wasn't going to take no for an answer."^[12]

Filming and design

Principal photography for Hustlers began on March 22, 2019 in New York City, with the shoot lasting 29 days. Production wrapped on May 3.^[16] Scenes were also shot north of the city in New Rochelle, White Plains and at the Palisades Center.^[20] According to producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, the production budget for the film was $20.7 million.^[2] Cameos by Usher, Lizzo, and Cardi B, were all filmed the same day.^[21]

Hustlers costume designer, Mitchell Travers, defined the origins of the film's costumes and treatment in an interview with Vanity Fair, stating that "I knew it [had] to absolutely floor the audience, and let them know that this is not going to be like any movie that they've seen before." Travers designed the costumes for Lopez to showcase the strength and muscle tone she amassed during her pre-Hustlers training. Without running afoul of the film's planned R rating, he dreamed up the diamond bodysuit that was essentially connected by three straps. Travers commented: "We did a lot of research and development to find something that could [stretch in every direction during Lopez's dance]. It's performance wear, and really had to work for that sequence. We did a number of fittings on it. It is tailored within an inch of its life, completely custom for her."^[22][23]

Music

The soundtrack to Hustlers features a list of songs ranging from late 1990s R&B, dance music, indie pop, to classical interludes,^[24] including Janet Jackson, Fiona Apple, Britney Spears, Lorde, and Frédéric Chopin. As Scafaria explained: "I thought of [the film] as a musical — the songs themselves were telling a story. Most of the music choices were also written into the script, I had obviously imagined scenes to these songs, and we shot to these songs, but you never know if you're going to get the rights."^[25][26] The film's music supervisor, Jason Markey, got artists from Big Sean to Bob Seger to sign-off permission to include their songs in the Hustlers soundtrack; however, the film deliberately does not feature any songs from the catalogs of Jennifer Lopez, Lizzo, or Cardi B. Markey noted that, "We didn't have a score, either; every song made a statement about the scene."^[27]

Censorship

The film was banned outright from release in Malaysia, and has received censorship in several Asian countries. The film was denied a clearance certificate by the Malaysian Film Censorship Board, for showing what officials called "excessive obscene content".^[33]

Box office

Hustlers grossed $105 million in the United States and Canada, and $52.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $157.6 million.^[4] Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $47 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.^[32]

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside The Goldfinch, and was projected to gross $25–30 million from 3,250 theaters in its opening weekend.^[34] The film made $13.1 million on its first day, including $2.5 million in Thursday night previews.^[35][36] It was the biggest single day gross in STX Entertainment's history.^[37] The film went on to debut to $33.2 million, finishing second, behind holdover It Chapter Two; the opening marked the most successful in STX's history and the best of Lopez's live-action career.^[38] The audience breakdown of the opening weekend was 67% female, including 69% being over the age of 25.^[39] It dropped 49% in its second weekend to $16.8 million, finishing in fifth, and made $11.5 million in its third weekend, jumping to third.^[40][41]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 87% based on 354 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Led by a career-best performance from Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers is a uniquely empowering heist drama with depth and intelligence to match its striking visual appeal."^[45] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 44 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[46] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale, and those at PostTrak gave it an average 3.5 out of 5 stars and a 50% "definite recommend".^[39] The film was also chosen by Time magazine,^[47] HuffPost,^[48] and NPR as one of the best films of 2019.^[49]

Christy Lemire rated the film 3 stars, describing Hustlers as "Goodfellas in a G-string... Scafaria's film is always a blast to watch, resulting in a surprising level of emotional depth." Lemire also described it as "Lopez's best screen work since her early heyday of Selena and Out of Sight..." and a "...career-best performance."^[42] Kate Erbland of IndieWire rated Hustlers an A− and describes the film as "funny, empowering, sexy, emotional, and a bit scary. The Oscar chatter for Lopez's revelatory, nuanced, and emotional turn as a brilliant con artist and better exotic dancer is no joke."^[50] Variety's Peter DeBruge writes, "flashy, fleshy and all-around impossible to ignore, Hustlers amounts to nothing less than a cultural moment, inspired by an outrageous New York Magazine profile... adapted by writer-director Scafaria at her most Scorsese, and starring Jennifer Lopez like you've never seen her before."^[51]

Justin Chang, writing for the Los Angeles Times, describes the film as "brassy and invigorating" stating that "Scafaria's clear-eyed grasp of that distinction that makes Hustlers more than just a girls-gone-wild cautionary tale, a peekaboo parade or a hypocritical amalgam of the two. The movie's empathy for its leads and its wholly justified rage against the architects of financial collapse is held in check by the knowledge that every hustle has its collateral damage."^[43] The Guardian's Benjamin Lee, rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, stating that "even when films have focused on strippers as something other than window dressing, they've still been written and directed by men and have smoothed over rougher edges, turning them all into titillating one-note archetypes. Instead, Scafaria views the strip club like any other workplace, filled with internal politics and an ever-changing hierarchy of power."^[52] Beandrea July of The Hollywood Reporter stated that "Hustlers delivers on its hype while consistently doing the unexpected. Scafaria, whose last pic was the Susan Sarandon vehicle The Meddler (2015), excels at immersing the audience in the world of sex-work in clubs, quietly disabusing us scene by scene of any stereotypes about who these women are."^[53]

Emily VanDerWerff of Vox writes "as you're distracted by all that razzle-dazzle and the movie's many, many great jokes, Hustlers is quietly composing some deeply profound thoughts about the relationships women build with each other."^[54] Brennan Carley of GQ called Hustlers the best movie of 2019 to date, noting: "starting with a bang is one thing, though; maintaining that energy throughout its entire run-time is what makes this strippers-turned-criminals flick such a masterful feat."^[55] Rolling Stone's film critic Peter Travers was also positive, stating that, "Hustlers doesn't pussyfoot about what goes on in those 'champagne rooms' off stage. The intent is not to exploit but to show how women manage to live and work in a predatory man's world", adding that "in Scafaria's fiercely funny provocation of a film—there's no running from the shadows—it's the women who seize control."^[44]