Boy Kills World’s Upsetting Performance Cannot Stop Bill Skarsgård’s Climb to Hollywood’s Big Leagues, Here’s Why

Bill Skarsgård has been among the most anticipated future stars in Hollywood. But the audience mostly remembers him as the scary clown Pennywise from the movie It. However, the Swedish actor has been establishing a career. Skarsgård has proven his talent across Swedish cinema and American TV shows and movies.

His last film was Boy Kills World which was meant to be his action film debut. It was intended to be the type of film that makes actors into action heroes. However, this was not the case, and things did not go as planned. The film failed at the box office, and such failures could seriously jeopardize some careers, but not for him.

Bill Skarsgård’s Big Upcoming Projects Despite Boy Kills World‘s Failure

Even though Boy Kills World did not make it big at the box office, Skarsgård’s acting career is actually alive than ever. Moreover, according to IMDb, he has a number of upcoming projects that can make people forget this little setback easily.

First on the list is The Crow. Bill Skarsgård will play the lead character, Eric, in this remake of the movie. It is scheduled to release on August 23, 2024. In an interview with Empire Magazine, the director called the movie a “scrappy indie movie” and it has retained the dark, violent spirit of the original comic book. 

Following this is Nosferatu, where Skarsgård is cast as vampire Count Orlok. This is the new horror film from director Robert Eggers who is known for his creepy, artistic horror movies. Esquire also reports that for this part, Skarsgård even consulted an opera singer to make his voice even more creepy. The movie is set for release on Christmas Day this year.

Skarsgård is going back to the role that brought him fame. He is about to reprise his role of Pennywise the Clown in Welcome to Derry which is the prequel series of It. For action lovers, Skarsgård has Lords of War in which he will play the son of Nicolas Cage’s character from the first Lord of War film. There will be some father-son rivalry in the movie since both of them will be competing to be the best in the arms-dealing industry.

Finally, there is Locked which is a horror-suspense film in which Skarsgård will be featured as a thief who is trapped in a deadly trap. He will be sharing the screen with great actors like Anthony Hopkins.

Why Did Boy Kills World Fail to Impress the Audience?

Boy Kills World was not as well received by the audience and the critics, though the movie had an interesting concept, a promising actor in Skarsgård, and a combination of both action and elements of black comedy. 

First of all, the movie attempted to deliver too many things. It wanted to be a comedic action movie and a brutal revenge story at the same time. That is a tough balance to maintain, and unfortunately, the makers just could not manage it.

The story itself had some problems as well. Skarsgård is a deaf-mute who is out for payback, but the bad guys decide to leave him alive for no apparent reason. It’s the kind of plot hole that can take the audience out of the story. Also, the world-building of the film was poor and viewers were left unsure about the rules of this universe.

However, not everything was bad. Skarsgård’s performance got some praise, as he portrayed the inner conflict of his character pretty well. However, he could not save the inconsistent script and plot.

Boy Kills World failed at the box office. According to Box Office Mojo, it opened with just $1,682,525 in the US and ended up making only $3,239,026 worldwide. Critics weren’t too impressed either. The movie got a 58% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

For a movie that was supposed to launch Skarsgård as an action star, that’s pretty disappointing. Many felt that while the movie had some cool ideas, but they just didn’t come together in a satisfying way.

Boy Kills World is now available to stream on Prime Video.