Hitting theatres after its Sundance debut, Casper Kelly’s Buddy dramatically exceeded expectations and came in sixth at the domestic box office.

The indie horror comedy, which stars Cristin Milioti, Topher Grace, and Keegan-Michael Key,  grossed an impressive $5.36 million on 1,258 screens in its opening weekend, doubling its predicted earnings and securing the year’s highest opening for a film released in under 1800 screens, as reported by Roadside Attractions and Saban Films. For reference, Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars, 20th Century Studios’ $70 million-budgeted blockbuster starring Jacob Elordi and Margaret Qualley, grossed $8 million, less than $3 million more than Buddy.

Buddy also set individual records for the indie film distributors, marking Roadside’s best opening since Covid and its second-best ever after the Dennis Quaid-led Christian drama I Can Only Imagine (2018), while setting Saban Films’ highest opening in its 12-year history.

The film follows a group of children who fight to escape the reality of a surreal 90s-style kids TV show when their Barney-esque host, an orange unicorn named Buddy (voiced by Key), turns murderous. Delaney Quinn, star of If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, leads the child cast, while Patton Oswalt and Michael Shannon appear in voice roles.

Buddy marks the feature debut of Casper Kelly. The writer-director is known for Too Many Cooks, the viral parody short in which a slasher villain infiltrates a series of retro sitcom credits sequences. The short has 29 million views on YouTube as of August 2026.

The black horror comedy hails from Weapons and Barbarian producers J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules. The duo have recently been tapped to head Paramount Primal, Paramount’s new production label dedicated to horror and genre film.