The Dog Stars, the new Ridley Scott-directed film starring Jacob Elordi, has fallen short at the box office during its opening weekend.
Based on Peter Heller’s 2012 novel of the same name about the aftermath of a deadly flu virus, The Dog Stars was released in theaters Friday. In addition to Elordi, the science-fiction thriller stars Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, Allison Janney and Benedict Wong.
According to Variety, the film raked in just $8 million in the U.S. after being shown at 3,330 locations, landing in fifth place. The Disney and 20th Century Studios film cost about $80 million to make and could lose tens of millions during its theatrical run, the outlet reported.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, meanwhile, landed the top spot once again, earning more than $22 million. The film has now grossed about $891 million domestically and could soon become the highest-grossing movie of all time — a feat it will achieve when it surpasses $936 million.
The film has already broken the $2 billion mark worldwide, a feat achieved by only seven other films. The Marvel blockbuster, which stars Tom Holland as the web-slinging superhero, reached that milestone within just three weekends of its release.
Christopher Nolans’s The Odyssey finished second, earning $14.6 million, while Coyote vs. Acme took in about $13.5 million in its opening weekend. Insidious: Out of the Further took the fourth place spot with $10.1 million.
Currently, The Dog Stars sits at a 40 percent rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
The film also left critics divided.
In a two-star review of The Dog Stars for The Independent, Clarisse Loughrey wrote: “Scott and screenwriter Mark L Smith clearly intended for The Dog Stars to wrestle with the personal devastation wrought by Covid, and there are a few scattered, tender moments shared between these characters burdened with unimaginable survivor’s guilt.
“But Heller’s novel, published in 2012, was dealing with hypotheticals; in fact, the former editor of National Geographic Adventure seemed more interested in lush, extensive descriptions of the Colorado forests than he was in the ‘whys’ and ‘how’s’ of societal collapse,” Loughrey continued.
“In contrast, part of Scott’s genius has always been in the sense of history and texture behind his created worlds, in the invitation to imagine what lingers outside of the frame. Only, there’s very little cohesion to the visual language of The Dog Stars.”
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