Box Office: Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd's Death of a Unicorn opens to modest Thursday preview; Experts blame genre oversaturation

Death of a Unicorn falls short in previews with USD 700K despite Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd's star power. Industry watchers debate the impact of horror fatigue on box office.

Written by Seema Sinha , Entertainment Journalist

Updated on Mar 29, 2025 | 12:37 PM IST | 20K

Picture Courtesy: A24

A24’s latest horror outing, Death of a Unicorn, grossed a modest USD 700K in Thursday previews at the North American box office despite Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd’s star power. Comparatively, titles with similar themes that recently hit theaters, including The Substance, The Crow, The First Omen, and The Last Voyage of the Demeter, raked in USD 562K, USD 650K, USD 725K, and USD 750K, respectively, showing an under-1-million Thursday preview trend.

Experts are pointing to oversaturation in the genre as the cause for the film underperforming commercially. As of this writing, Death of a Unicorn is facing direct competition from The Woman in the Backyard, another horror title, which will surely eat into its audience.

Recently, multiple horror or horror-comedy ventures have been thrown audiences’ way, including Nosferatu, Companion, Heart Eyes, Wolf Man, and The Monkey. Horror is hardly considered a mainstream genre, with most of its fanbase belonging to a niche group. With limited viewer numbers, there’s only so much a movie can earn.

The future slate of the genre will see Drop, Sinners, Until Dawn, 28 Years Later, The Strangers: Chapter 2, Scream 7, and more.

Regardless, for those interested, here’s what Death of a Unicorn offers: Written and directed by Alex Scharfman and starring the two aforementioned talents, the film explores the accidental killing of the titular eccentric animal, causing its parents to hunt down the culprits (Rudd and Ortega). Richard E. Grant, Téa Leoni, Will Poulter, Anthony Carrigan, Sunita Mani, Jessica Hynes, and Steve Park also feature in the film.

Death of a Unicorn was announced in May 2023, with filming beginning in Hungary in July. The production was granted a waiver to continue shooting during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, as A24 is not part of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Meanwhile, The Woman in the Backyard, starring Danielle Deadwyler, Okwui Okpokwasili, Russell Hornsby, and more, follows a family that sees a strange woman dressed in all black sitting in their yard. Though she initially appears harmless, horror soon follows.

Which of the two movies would be your pick for the weekend? Do let us know!