Ridley Scott's New Sci-Fi Film Pulled From 3,000 Theaters After $15 Million Box Office Haul

Despite a robust promotional campaign and built-up anticipation for Ridley Scott's return to the sci-fi genre, it turned out to be a critical and commercial underperformer. The movie debuted theatrically at the end of August, and has been removed from virtually every venue less than a month after its debut. For context, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has a theatrical footprint 15 times larger than the new movie, even after 66 days in release. This past weekend, its fourth, Scott's new film saw a 91% drop in revenue, grossing just $26,210. It finished 36th on the domestic leaderboard, behind John Wilson's The History of Concrete, which debuted in only one theater.

The Dog Stars opened with $7.7 million in its first weekend at the domestic box office, marking one of Scott's lowest-ever debuts. The movie cost roughly the same as Alien: Covenant, The Martian, and Gladiator, but it has grossed less at the global box office than even A Good Year, a two-decade-old drama that Scott directed with Russell Crowe in the lead role. The Dog Stars is now sitting at a 40% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus describes it as a "derivative and drowsy" experience. Despite the setback, Scott remains one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation, and certainly among the most revered directors to work in the sci-fi genre.