The Dog Stars Bombs with $62 million Domestic Loss

Box office reports see acclaimed filmmaker Ridley Scott falling short with his milestone 30th feature release, The Dog Stars, alongside Warner Bros. and their beloved Looney Tunes seeing success with their latest release, Coyote vs. Acme, which infamously overcame being shelved as a ‘tax write-off’ by the studio.

The Dog Stars stars Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, and Guy Pearce as a band of flu pandemic survivors trying to navigate their new post-apocalyptic world. The film is based on Peter Heller’s 2012 book of the same title, with writer Mark L. Smith writing the screenplay.

Unfortunately, the sci-fi adaptation scrapped a disappointing domestic gross of just $8 million from its initial budget of $70 million. Combined with overseas ticket sales of $11 million, Scott’s 30th directed feature has accumulated a box office total of $19.3 million, which amounts to $50.7 million lost from its budget globally and a $62 million one domestically.

This places The Dog Stars as 2026’s 93rd highest-grossing release, ahead of Antonin Baudry’s La Bataille de Gaulle’s $19 million and behind Kirill Sokolov’s They Will Kill You’s $19.4 million. The film also now stands as Scott’s lowest debut since The Last Duel in 2021, which grossed $4.7 million during its opening.

As for Looney Tunes, Coyote vs Acme, directed by David Green from a script by Samy Burch, which focuses on Wile E. Coyote attempting to sue Acme for a long-standing history of faulty products, has opened domestically to $15.3 million from a $70 million budget. The live-action and animation hybrid’s history includes initial cancellation at Warner Bros. as the studio tried to opt for a $30 million tax write-off, followed by an outcry on social media and the director stating: “we were all determined to honor the legacies of these historic characters and actually get them right.”

Additionally, film figures who had previously seen Coyote vs. Acme, including Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Michael Chaves, and Daniel Scheinert, advocated for the film’s release by emphasising its “moving” story. The independent distribution studio Ketchup went on to save Green’s film from never seeing the light of day when they purchased the rights for $50 million.

Now, the distributor is seeing their biggest debut gross, following the other Looney Tunes feature, The Day The Earth Blew Up, which opened to $3.5 million and went on to gross $15 million.

Other box office news sees Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day nab another $22.2 million in domestic sales, pushing the US box office gross to $891 million and meaning the fourth MCU Spider-Man flick is closer to breaking the record for the highest-grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office, if it tops Star Wars: The Force Awakens’s $936 million.

Ros Tibbs

Editor

Ros is a film and lit graduate writing news and reviews at The People’s Magazine. She also writes long-form film theory, film history, analytical or curated recommendations pieces on other platforms.