Indie Horror 'Buddy' Eyes $20 Million Box Office Milestone for Roadside

Casper Kelly's dark horror comedy *Buddy* is closing in on a post-pandemic theatrical milestone for Roadside Attractions, generating just under $16 million through the Labor Day holiday frame.

The feature, acquired jointly with Saban Films following its midnight premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, opened to $5.3 million on August 28. In an unusual second-weekend gain, the release climbed to $5.7 million over the standard Friday-to-Sunday stretch.

The film features Keegan-Michael Key as the voice of a Barney-style orange unicorn host on a fictional children's program who violently attacks cast members and viewers who fail to follow along with his televised instructions. Kelly previously broke out by directing prominent viral comedy shorts on YouTube during the 2010s.

With its current trajectory, *Buddy* is positioned to become Roadside's first theatrical title to cross $20 million in the United States and Canada since the COVID-19 pandemic altered specialty theatrical distribution.

Should the release hit $25 million in domestic receipts, it will rank as the third-highest-grossing release in the distributor's history. It would trail only the 2018 faith-based drama *I Can Only Imagine*, which grossed $83.4 million in partnership with Lionsgate, and the 2016 Oscar winner *Manchester by the Sea*, which earned $47.6 million alongside Amazon.

The theatrical performance underscores the ongoing commercial durability of low-budget, high-concept genre titles, which continue to deliver profitable theatrical returns for independent distributors even as traditional prestige dramas face a challenging box office environment.

Kelly praised the distribution strategy behind the rollout. "I know there's a lot of talk about people in the film business treating it all like an algorithm game. But I don't feel that at all from this gang at Roadside and Saban Films," Kelly told TheWrap.