Dark comedy Buddy from Roadside Attractions and Saban Films blew past expectations to set a few records for Roadside Attractions as its top opening since Covid and second-best ever after I Can Only Imagine (2018, $17 million).
From the producers of Weapons, the feature directorial debut of Casper Kelly scared up a no. 6 spot at the domestic box office with $5.36 million on 1,258 screens after tracking had it at about $2.5 million. Roadside said its first major horror film also marks the highest opening weekend of 2026 for films released on under 1,800 screens.
Buddy is Saban Films’ highest opening in its 12-year history.
The R-rated parody is set in a surreal ’90s kids’ television series whose giant, orange unicorn host Buddy, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key, turns bad. It world premiered at the Sundance Midnight Section to an underwhelming response and no buyers.
“We expected the film to sell immediately to a major studio at Sundance, so when it didn’t it presented an amazing opportunity for Roadside and Saban to pick it up,” said Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff of Roadside, and Jonathan Saba and Shanan Becker of Saban. They found it “an unusual mixture of horror, comedy and emotion taking place in different realities that was both delightfully unique and marketable.”
“With our partners at producers BoulderLight Pictures and Low Spark Films, we devised an online campaign that was unprecedented for us. It helps to have a naughty orange unicorn named Buddy who is destined to be a major star,” they said. It’s connecting with young audiences, which are skewing 83% under 35. It’s over-indexing with Hispanic audiences at 37%.
Marketing included a Buddy persona who responded on text and social creating a bond with fans and now has over 450k followers and over 150 million views. The Buddy Fan Club quickly amassed 25k members signing up via text. The campaign included three viral teasers but no full trailer. He was seen dancing at San Diego Comic Con, getting arrested in Times Square, giving out free hugs on the Santa Monica Pier, and tussling with an AMC employee over a bag of popcorn.