{"id":754835,"date":"2026-08-30T18:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T18:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/754835\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T18:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T18:52:21","slug":"box-office-the-dog-stars-bombs-with-8-million-over-opening-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/754835\/","title":{"rendered":"Box Office: ‘The Dog Stars’ Bombs With $8 Million Over Opening Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cThe Dog Stars<\/a>\u201d couldn\u2019t beat the heat during the dog days of summer and melted down over its opening weekend.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney and 20th Century\u2019s \u201cThe Dog Stars\u201d opened to just $8 million domestically from 3,330 locations for a fifth-place finish. The post-apocalyptic thriller, which cost more than $80 million to produce, has not sat well with critics or audiences, receiving a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes and just a \u201cC+\u201d grade from CinemaScore polls.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Dog Stars\u201d is poised to lose tens of millions in its theatrical run, making it one of director Ridley Scott\u2019s biggest misfires. The poor opening harkens back to Scott\u2019s 2021 film \u201cThe Last Duel,\u201d which opened to just $4.7 million in October of that year against a budget of about $100 million. The historical drama was also released by 20th Century, but it was received much better by critics. Scott, best known for classics like \u201cGladiator\u201d and \u201cAlien,\u201d reached his box office peak in 2015 with \u201cThe Martian,\u201d which grossed $630 million worldwide and earned seven Oscar nominations, including best picture. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Dog Stars\u201d brings an up-and-down summer to an end for Disney. While the studio hit big with \u201cToy Story 5\u201d ($1.12 billion) and \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada 2\u201d ($692 million), it also fielded misfires like the live-action \u201cMoana\u201d ($308 million against a $250 million budget) and \u201cThe Mandalorian and Grogu\u201d ($345 million against a $165 million budget). Hard to imagine Disney is worried, considering \u201cAvengers: Doomsday\u201d is waiting in the wings for what will surely be a box office blowout in December.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Dog Star\u201d stars Jacob Elordi as Hig, a lonely apocalypse survivor with a canine companion. After he picks up on a mysterious broadcast signal, he is determined to track the source. Other cast members include Margaret Qualley, Josh Brolin, Guy Pearce, Allison Janney and Benedict Wong.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis weekend\u2019s other major newcomer, \u201cCoyote vs. Acme,\u201d landed in third place after grossing an estimated $13.5 million domestically from 3,575 screens. The live-action-animation hybrid was abandoned by its original distributor, Warner Bros., for tax credits, enraging sectors of the film community. Ketchup Entertainment saved the title back in March of 2025 and slated it for a theatrical release.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCoyote vs. Acme\u201d sees \u201cLooney Tunes\u201d favorite Wile E. Coyote take the Acme Corporation to court after its products failed him one too many times in his pursuit of the Road Runner. Cast members include Will Forte, Lana Condor, John Cena, Tone Bell, Martha Kelly, Luis Guzm\u00e1n, P.J. Byrne and John Early. Dave Green directs with a script from Samy Burch.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt No. 1, again, was Sony and Marvel\u2019s \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day<\/a>.\u201d It earned $22.2 million through Sunday, dropping just 44% from last week\u2019s earnings. That figure pushes the superhero epic\u2019s domestic total to a staggering $891 million.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBrand-New Day\u201d is on the cusp of two major box office milestones. After surpassing $936 million, it will become the highest-grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office. That record currently belongs to 2015\u2019s \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens.\u201d When it clears that benchmark, \u201cSpider-Man\u201d will be on its way to becoming the first movie ever to hit $1 billion in North America alone. <\/p>\n

\n\tUniversal\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d continues to impress. The Greek epic took second, earning $14.6 million through its seventh weekend at the domestic box office. That puts Chris Nolan\u2019s blockbuster at a North American haul of $564 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tSony\u2019s \u201cInsidious: Out of the Further\u201d made $10.1 million (a 60% drop) in its second weekend for a fourth-place finish. Those earnings put the horror sequel\u2019s domestic revenues at $43 million. It\u2019s a great start, considering the film only cost about $18 million to produce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Dog Stars\u201d couldn\u2019t beat the heat during the dog days of summer and melted down over its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,19799,118407,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-754835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-spider-man-brand-new-day","tag-the-dog-stars","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}