Jenna Ortega’s Flop Horror Movie Finds Success on Streaming

A dark fantasy comedy horror movie headlined by Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd, which suffered a weak theatrical run and became a box office disappointment, has become a big hit on streaming. Death of a Unicorn, which hit theaters last year, has become a success on HBO Max, where it has found a new audience. Thanks to strong viewership, the film has managed to rank quite high on streaming analytics charts. At the time of its theatrical release, the film garnered mixed reviews from critics.

Death of a Unicorn finds an audience on HBO Max

Jenna Ortega’s dark horror comedy, Death of a Unicorn, has become the #5 movie on HBO Max as of January 30, 2026, as per streaming analytics website, FlixPatrol. In addition, it is either the #1, #2, or #3 movie in several South American countries like Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Mexico.

The film is outranked by Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s Sinners (#1), which swept the most nominations at this year’s Academy Awards with a record 16 nominations, Leonardo DiCaprio’s One Battle After Another (#2), 33 Photos from the Ghetto (#3), and Scarlett Johansson-starrer Lucy (#4). However, it outranks Legion (#6), Blink Twice (#7), Alien: Romulus (#8), Blackhat (#9), and Fighting (#10).

Following its release, Death of a Unicorn grossed an estimated $16.4 million globally against an estimated budget of $15 million.

The film has garnered average scores on review aggregator websites. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rotten score of 52% but a more robust audience score of 76%. Meanwhile, Metacritic, which uses a weighted average to determine scores, gave the film a Metascore of 51 and a user score of 5.6 ― both denoting a “mixed or average” reception.

The film’s story follows a father and daughter duo, Elliot and Ridley. They go on a weekend retreat to Elliot’s billionaire boss’s estate in the Canadian Rockies. During their journey, the pair accidentally hit and kill a unicorn with their car, and Elliot’s boss wants to exploit the magical properties of the creature’s remains.

Alex Scharfman wrote and directed the film. He also co-produced it with Theresa Steele Page, Lars Knudsen, Lucas Joaquin, Drew Houpt, Tim Headington, and Tyler Campellone.

Apart from Ortega and Paul Rudd, the film stars Will Poulter, David Pasquesi, Anthony Carrigan, Richard E. Grant, Téa Leoni, and Jessica Hynes, among others.

Source: Comingsoon.net