The Dog Stars, a Ridley Scott sci-fi thriller, has nearly vanished from US cinemas less than a month after it opened, down from 3,330 screens to just 110. The $110mn post-apocalyptic film has so far grossed only $14.9mn domestically and $38.9mn worldwide.
The collapse in proceeds accelerated significantly after the second weekend. The Dog Stars grossed $2.77 million across 3,330 theatres from 4 to 6 September, before dropping to $257,548 from 1,030 locations a week later. Its fourth weekend grossed only $26,210, or $238 per cinema, according to estimates.
Scott’s first science-fiction film in nearly a decade faces an extremely difficult path to theatrical profitability. The reported $110 million production budget excludes marketing, and studios do not retain every dollar earned at the box office.
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What went wrong?
The ingredients hardly resembled those of a $39 million film. Scott directed Jacob Elordi as Hig, a pandemic survivor who lives with his dog and the heavily armed Bangley, played by Josh Brolin. Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, Benedict Wong, and Allison Janney complete the cast.
However, critics repeatedly cited familiarity rather than spectacle as being the issue. On Rotten Tomatoes, The Dog Stars has a 41% rating, compared to a much healthier 70% audience score. The site’s critics praise the visuals but describe the story as overly familiar and slow-paced.
The Guardian argued that while Scott’s visual instincts remained intact, the screenplay struggled to make its characters or well-worn post-apocalyptic setting feel unique.
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The film also entered a difficult late-summer market while Spider-Man: Brand New Day was still dominating ticket sales. Scott’s film opened to just $7.7mn domestically despite playing in more than 3,000 cinemas.
The result is an unusually sharp theatrical miss for a filmmaker whose science-fiction catalogue includes Alien, Blade Runner and The Martian. His genre work is hardly finished, though: Scott remains active across film and television, including as executive producer of AMC’s revived horror anthology The Terror.
