Buddy, a horror comedy about a magical orange unicorn who holds a TV cast hostage, has grossed about $27 million in the United States and Canada on a reported $3 million budget, according to Wikipedia. The box office figure is from September 29 and may be higher now.
It is the strangest entry in a good year for cheap horror, and it is still climbing on our tracker: its TMDb popularity score went from 159.1 on October 24 to 189.7 on October 28, and it sits 97th on our hype ranking.
The Film
- Director and writers: Casper Kelly, who also made the Adult Swim short Too Many Cooks, wrote it with Jamie King.
- Cast: Cristin Milioti as Grace, with Delaney Quinn, Topher Grace and Clint Howard. Keegan-Michael Key voices Buddy, Patton Oswalt voices Strappy and Michael Shannon voices Willie.
- Premise: children trapped inside a surreal, 1990s-style children's television series must find a way to escape their malevolent unicorn host.
- Length: 96 minutes.
- Release: premiered in Sundance's Midnight section on January 22 and opened in U.S. theaters on August 28 through Roadside Attractions and Saban Films, a week earlier than the date first announced.
The Numbers
- Budget: $3 million, per Wikipedia.
- Domestic gross: $27 million as of September 29, per Wikipedia citing Box Office Mojo and The Numbers.
- Opening: $2.2 million on its first day and $5.4 million for its debut, though that figure has no direct citation on Wikipedia.
Against the reported budget, the U.S. and Canadian gross alone is about nine times the cost. Theaters keep a share of ticket sales and marketing is not in the budget, so it is not a profit figure. We compare the economics of this year's horror films in our analysis of the box office.
The Reviews
- Rotten Tomatoes: 88% from 138 reviews, an average of 7.0 out of 10 (as of October 10).
- Metacritic: 67 from 22 critics, "generally favorable." That snapshot dates from August 24, so it may be out of date.
The Rotten Tomatoes consensus praises the film for turning the cheerful conventions of children's entertainment into a weapon. We did not find a CinemaScore.
Where to Watch
- Digital: available to rent or buy from October 13.
- Disc: Blu-ray and DVD on December 8.
- Subscription streaming: none listed in the sources we found.
Editorial Take: Buddy shows that a very strange idea, executed with conviction, can reach beyond the festival audience it was made for. At $3 million, it did not need a wide appeal to make sense. It needed enough people to be curious about the gimmick, and the reviews gave them a reason to try it. The digital release makes it an easy Halloween-week rental, and the 88% score suggests most critics found the gimmick lasts for its full 96 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much has Buddy made? About $27 million in the U.S. and Canada as of September 29, per Wikipedia.
How much did Buddy cost? A reported $3 million.
Is Buddy good? 88% on Rotten Tomatoes from 138 reviews and 67 on Metacritic from 22 critics. Scores can change.
Where can I watch Buddy? It is available to rent or buy digitally from October 13. A subscription streaming date has not been announced that we could find.
Who is in Buddy? Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Topher Grace and Clint Howard, with Keegan-Michael Key, Patton Oswalt and Michael Shannon voicing the puppets.
Who directed Buddy? Casper Kelly.
Box office and review figures come from the sources linked above and can change. Popularity figures are Incoming's snapshots of TMDb's score on October 24 and October 28, 2026. Tracking what arrives next across movies, TV, games, music and books at incoming.to.