Disney and 20th Century's "The Dog Stars" stumbled badly at the box office, opening to just $8 million domestically from 3,330 locations and settling for fifth place. The post-apocalyptic thriller cost more than $80 million to produce but landed poorly with both critics and audiences, scoring only 40% on Rotten Tomatoes and a "C+" CinemaScore grade.
With the film poised to lose tens of millions during its theatrical run, it now ranks among director Ridley Scott's biggest box office misfires. The disappointment echoes Scott's 2021 release "The Last Duel," which opened to $4.7 million in October of that year on a budget of roughly $100 million despite being well-reviewed; that film was also distributed by 20th Century. Scott, known for classics like "Gladiator" and "Alien," hit his commercial peak in 2015 with "The Martian," which grossed $630 million worldwide and earned seven Oscar nominations, including best picture.
"The Dog Stars" follows Hig, played by Jacob Elordi, a lonely survivor of an apocalypse who tracks a mysterious broadcast signal alongside his dog. The cast also includes Margaret Qualley, Josh Brolin, Guy Pearce, Allison Janney and Benedict Wong.
The film caps a mixed summer for Disney, which scored major hits with "Toy Story 5" ($1.12 billion) and "The Devil Wears Prada 2" ($692 million) but also absorbed losses on the live-action "Moana" ($308 million against a $250 million budget) and "The Mandalorian and Grogu" ($345 million against a $165 million budget). The studio still has "Avengers: Doomsday" arriving in December.
Elsewhere in the weekend's box office, "Coyote vs. Acme" debuted in third place with an estimated $13.5 million from 3,575 screens. The live-action-animation hybrid was previously abandoned by Warner Bros. for tax credits, angering parts of the film community, before Ketchup Entertainment rescued the project in March 2025. Directed by Dave Green from a script by Samy Burch, the film follows Wile E. Coyote as he takes the Acme Corporation to court over its faulty products. Its cast includes Will Forte, Lana Condor, John Cena, Tone Bell, Martha Kelly, Luis Guzmán, P.J. Byrne and John Early.
Sony and Marvel's "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" held the top spot for another week, earning $22.2 million and dropping just 44% from the prior weekend. Its domestic total now stands at $891 million. Once it passes $936 million, the film will overtake 2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" as the highest-grossing movie ever at the domestic box office, putting it on track to become the first film to cross $1 billion in North America alone.
Universal's "The Odyssey," directed by Chris Nolan, took second place with $14.6 million in its seventh weekend, pushing its domestic total to $564 million. Sony's "Insidious: Out of the Further" rounded out the top five, earning $10.1 million in its second weekend — a 60% drop — for a domestic haul of $43 million against a production budget of about $18 million.
Photo: Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
