Ridley Scott’s New Sci-Fi Epic Tanks at the Box Office

Director Ridley Scott has a legendary track record, with diverse classics like Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, and Gladiator under his belt. He returned to the sci-fi genre for his latest effort: The Dog Stars, a post-apocalyptic tale based on the critically lauded 2012 novel by Peter Heller. Unfortunately, critics mostly panned the film, and now we know that audiences aren’t very interested, either.

The Dog Stars follows civilian pilot Hig (Jacob Elordi) and ex-Marine Bangley (Josh Brolin) as they try to survive in a world where most of the human population has been wiped out by a deadly flu, with many of those remaining becoming desperate scarengers. While some critics appreciated the movie’s hopeful outlook, others dinged it for being tonally monotonous, overly long, and doing little to distinguish itself from other end-of-the-world stories like The Last of Us or 28 Days Later.

The Dog Stars opened in theaters this weekend. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it came in fifth place at the box office, making around $8 million domestically. Worldwide, the movie made almost $20 million, but that still doesn’t put much of a dent in its budget, which ran over $80 million. Movies very rarely make more in their second weekends than in their first, so unless The Dog Stars pulls off a miracle, it seems destined to join other 2026 flops like Masters of the Universe and Supergirl.

The opening of The Dog Stars recalls the opening of 2021’s The Last Duel, the last Ridley Scott film to drastically underperform at the box office, although The Last Duel fared significantly better with critics. On the flip side, Scott has scored hits in recent years with movies like 2024’s Gladiator II, 2021’s House of Gucci, and 2015’s The Martian, which is the biggest hit of his career. The 88-year-old director is already working on a new adaptation of Treasure Island starring Hugh Jackman, so he can always bounce back.

The Dog Stars was beaten at the box office this weekend by the horror movie Insidious: Out of the Further, which came in fourth place in its second weekend. Third place went to The Odyssey, which is still doing solid numbers since coming out in mid-July. Coyote vs. Acme opened opposite The Dog Stars and made a respectable $15 million at the domestic box office, which was enough for a second place finish. It’s something of a comeback story for the movie, which was going to be shelved by Warner Bros. Discovery for a tax write-off before Ketchup Entertainment bought the rights and released it. Finally, first place went to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which continues to set box office milestones.

This past weekend marked the end of the summer movie season, which finished 25.5% above last year. That also means it’s the highest-grossing summer movie season since the COVID-19 pandemic all but shut down movie theaters in 2020. Theaters have been buoyed by blockbusters like The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Devil Wears Prada 2, and Toy Story 5, as well as sleeper hits like Obsession and Backrooms. With big movies like Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday coming at the end of the year, the industry’s prospects are looking bright.