Everything You Need to Know About ‘Buddy’

It’s like if your beloved ’90s children’s show…tried to kill you!

Key Takeaways

• Buddy turns the sunny nostalgia of ’90s children’s shows like Barney & Friends into horror about kids trapped with a giant orange unicorn.
• Too Many Cooks creator Casper Kelly directs a cast featuring Cristin Milioti and Topher Grace, with Keegan-Michael Key voicing Buddy.
• The roughly $3 million movie earned more than $6 million and gave Roadside Attractions its biggest opening since COVID, positioning it as another breakout 2026 horror release.

Around the end of August, Deadline reported that the 2026 box office has passed the $7 billion mark, and when you look at what helped that out, it’s not hard to understand: The Odyssey was major, as were hits like Project Hail Mary and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Without a doubt, horror has done its part, with Obsession ($505 million) and Backrooms ($394 million) in particular helping open doors for more independent horror.

What a perfect moment for Buddy to swoop in and become 2026’s movie icon!

Wait, you don’t know who Buddy is? The giant orange unicorn? Star of It’s Buddy? Always had kids playing imaginary games and getting into all kinds of fun adventures? Well, if you aren’t familiar, I guess that’s what we’re here for! We can tell you everything you need to know about Buddy, Buddy, and all of the wonderful things that helped Buddy become, well, Buddy!

Shop the Comics Collection on Complex

Buddy is directed by the creator of “Too Many Cooks”

With many recently celebrating the 25th anniversary of the premiere of Cartoon Network’s [adult swim], Buddy drops at just the right time. The film is directed by Casper Kelly, who also directed 2014’s “Too Many Cooks,” a short that was equal parts hilarious, horrific, and surprisingly specific. Over the course of the 11-minute feature, Kelly’s short parodies the opening themes of ‘80s and ‘90s sitcoms and other forms of programming. It wonderfully caught all of the tropes of bumbling dads and fashionable daughters and the young, precocious son…until a mysterious figure starts murdering, well, everyone. It got so demented and so meta that it became a viral sensation.

For more on the making of “Too Many Cooks,” check out Dead Meat’s Kill Count on the short.

Hearing that the director of “Too Many Cooks” was cooking up a Barney-esque parody as a full-length film? Based on the quality of “Too Many Cooks,” you already knew what time it was.

Buddy is (loosely?-)based on ‘90s children’s programming like Barney

Running from 1992-2010, the PBS series Barney & Friends featured a giant, magical purple dinosaur (and his other pals) singing and dancing with a group of kids in…some kind of school? With the only parents around being figures like mailmen and the like, it was hard to tell what went on outside of the 30-minute program. Buddy feels like Casper Kelly had that thought and said, “let’s explore.”

“If you like Too Many Cooks,” Kelly told Time, “this is me exploring some of those ideas of weaponized nostalgia and being trapped in a TV show, on a bigger scale.”

Buddy features a star-studded cast on the low

You may not be up on the main cast of kids that make up the bulk of Buddy, but on the low? There are some familiar faces on camera, from The Penguinstar Cristin Milioti and That 70’s Show alum Topher Graceto actor Clive Howard (Ron Howard’s brother). A lot of the star power is doing voice work, though; Key & Peele star Keegan-Michael Key is the voice of Buddy—fun fact: the film was already shot when they approached Key with the role. Michael Shannon and Patton Oswalt also do voice work in the film, much of it on the set of It’s Buddy!.

And while it’s dope to shout out the names you know, you have to give it up to the young cast on Buddy, including Delaney Quinn, who has to put the film on her back. Her great work in this film makes more sense when you realize that she’s been a fan of horror movies since she was five or six!

Buddy is looking like another 2026 horror hit

At the time of this writing, Buddy has pulled in over $6 million at the box office, more than making back its budget (which seems to top out around $3 million). That made it the top opening for Roadside Attractions since COVID, and their second best since 2018’s I Can Only Imagine 6 in the Top 10 opening week; for a film that didn’t sell at Sundance, that’s phenomenal

Those who knew have been ready and waiting for Buddy, especially during an era where films like Obsession and Backrooms can make hundreds of millions at the worldwide box office on relatively small budgets. That’s not to shoot for the moon with Buddy, but it does bode well for whatever Kelly may be working on next.

Three cheers for Buddy, your friend ‘til the end!