DEATH OF A UNICORN

Jenna Ortega’s new A24 film Death of a Unicorn has officially set its streaming debut on Max. It arrives on digital shortly after an underwhelming theatrical run this March.

Deadline reports that Death of a Unicorn will arrive on Max on Friday, July 25 and will air on HBO the following day, July 26 at 8:00 PM EDT. The comedy/horror movie stars Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega as a father and daughter who find themselves being hunted down after they accidentally kill a unicorn. Will Poulter, Tea Leoni and Richard Grant also star in supporting roles.

Death of a Unicorn was written and directed by Alex Scharfman in his directorial debut. In a recent interview with CBR, Poulter talked about working on the film with Scharfman, saying, “He wrote such an amazing script. The characters were already such gifts in terms of how they arrived on the page, and then we were also afforded the opportunity to play off each other so much.”

The underrated A24 film premiered at South by Southwest on March 8 and shortly after was released in theaters on March 28. Unfortunately, it received mixed reviews from critics and audiences, with review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes putting its Tomatometer at 54%. While critics praised Rudd and Ortega’s performances, detractors claimed its “broad satire is a bit too on the horn but makes for an entertainingly splattery creature feature.”

The audience score for Death of a Unicorn is much more promising, with over 1,000 verified audience reviews being largely positive at 77% approval. With its genre-bending plot, Death of a Unicorn‘s story seems to have resonated better with audiences than critics, meaning the film might be poised to perform even better streaming on Max than during its theatrical run.

Death of a Unicorn‘s box office returns were largely underwhelming for A24. Originally projected to gross $7-8 million in its opening weekend, the film debuted under the mark at $5.8 million. It ended its box office run just north of $16 million against its $15 million budget.

Jenna Ortega’s Latest Thriller Also Bombed in Theaters

 

Jenna Ortega scared as a creature's jaws get near her Death of a UnicornImage via A24 The cast of the movie Death of a Unicorn, all standing in a line looking down outside a mansionImage via A24 Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega play father and daughter in Death of a UnicornImage via A24

Jenna Ortega scared as a creature's jaws get near her Death of a Unicorn The cast of the movie Death of a Unicorn, all standing in a line looking down outside a mansion Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega play father and daughter in Death of a Unicorn

Death of a Unicorn isn’t the only recent Jenna Ortega project that failed to hit the mark at the box office. Her psychological thriller which saw her star alongside The Weeknd, Hurry Up Tomorrow, had a disastrous box office run that saw it also arriving on digital platforms very quickly. It’s not all bad news for Ortega, though, with the second season of her highly successful Netflix series Wednesday set to drop its first batch of episodes on Aug. 6.

As for A24, the studio has numerous upcoming projects, including Ari Aster’s Eddington, which will hit theaters July 18. The film tells the story of a small-town sheriff and mayor as their town is launched into chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A24 also has the Spike Lee-directed Highest 2 Lowest, a reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s crime thriller High and Low, which is eyeing an Aug. 22 theatrical debut.

Death of a Unicorn will arrive on Max on July 26.