Jenna Ortega's Underseen Dark Fantasy Finally Returns to Steaming Charts After Box Office Failure

Movies that have a successful afterlife on streaming after a rocky box office run aren’t quite as rare as unicorns, but one such mystical beast has returned to the streaming charts. Death of a Unicorn, the fantastical black comedy featuring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega as a father-daughter duo who have a deadly run-in with a creature of myth, is back in the HBO Max top ten after falling off the charts.

Distributed by indie production company A24, Death of a Unicorn was released in March to mixed reviews. It currently holds a 53% Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but Collider’s Nate Richard got more out of the film than most. In his review, he called it “a clever, sharp-horned, and violent horror-comedy that demands to be seen on the big screen with an audience,” and praised Rudd and Ortega’s on-screen chemistry. Unfortunately for the film, audiences didn’t agree: the film opened in fifth place at the box office, and ended up grossing $16.1 million USD on a $15 million budget. However, it has done well on streaming so far: undoubtedly, a new season of star Ortega’s hit Netflix series Wednesday dropping this month has served as a rising tide to lift her other projects.

What Is ‘Death of a Unicorn’ About?

Rudd and Ortega play Elliot and Ridley, a father and daughter who are still reeling from the recent death of Ridley’s mother. They’re on their way to a corporate retreat with Elliot’s boss, dying pharmaceutical billionaire Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?); en route, Elliot accidentally hits a young unicorn with his car. The unicorn ends up in the clutches of Odell and his family, including his scheming wife Belinda (Téa Leoni, Madam Secretary) and his obnoxious son, Shepard (Will Poulter, The Bear), who intend to exploit the beast’s healing properties. However, the unicorn’s larger and much more dangerous parents soon come in search of their offspring, and begin gruesomely dispatching the Leopolds and their staff (including Superman‘s Anthony Carrigan, GLOW‘s Sunita Mani, Fargo‘s Stephen Park, and The Franchise‘s Jessica Hynes). Meanwhile, young Ridley seems to have a mystical connection to the creature…but will that be enough to save her?

Death of a Unicorn was written and directed by Alex Scharfman in his big-screen debut. He previously produced Blow the Man Down, House of Spoils, and Selah and the Spades.

Death of a Unicorn is now streaming on HBO Max. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.