Tom Felton’s latest film, They Will Kill You, landed on digital platforms Aug. 28 and quickly found an audience. One day later, it debuted in fourth place on the U.S. Apple TV store, then slipped to fifth the following day while moving up in Australia, Canada and Italy.
The swift pickup is a contrast to the movie’s theatrical run, which premiered on Mar. 27 and largely fell under the radar. It also comes as Felton has been busy lately with a Broadway run and several films, keeping him in view even as this project has started to travel differently.
They Will Kill You is directed by Kirill Sokolov, who co-wrote the script with Alex Litvak, and produced by Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti. The film stars Zazie Beetz and also features Patricia Arquette, Myha'la, Paterson Joseph, Heather Graham and Felton in a blood-soaked, high-octane horror-action-comedy that has drawn mixed reactions.
That split is reflected in the numbers. Rotten Tomatoes shows a 64% approval score from critics based on 162 reviews, while the audience score stands at 77%. Critics praised its vivid gothic setting and said its cyclical structure can grow repetitive, but that Beetz keeps the bloodletting infectious. The film also underperformed at the box office, grossing $18.9 million worldwide against a $20 million budget.
The gap between the theaters and the living room is the real story here. They Will Kill You did not break out on the big screen, and it arrived digitally alongside heavy competition, including Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. But once it hit streaming storefronts, the movie moved fast enough to suggest that Sokolov’s mix of horror, comedy and heartbreak may be finding the audience its theatrical run missed.
The next marker is June 30, when They Will Kill You will be available to own on 4K UHD, Blu-Ray and DVD. If the early digital ranking holds, Felton’s film may end up building its case the old-fashioned way: one home viewing at a time.
