Ridley Scott’s ‘The Dog Stars’ Just Got Its CinemaScore Grade, and It’s Another Blow for the Struggling Release

Opening weekend can make or break a film’s narrative before word of mouth even has time to build, and few metrics carry as much immediate weight as CinemaScore. For a film already navigating a rocky theatrical debut, that grade often becomes the next headline in an increasingly difficult story.

Ridley Scott’s post-apocalyptic drama ‘The Dog Stars’ arrived in theaters this weekend already facing headwinds, between soft preview numbers and a lukewarm critical reception. Given the star power behind the project, expectations had at least hoped for a stronger audience reaction to help offset those early struggles.

That hope took another hit this weekend. ‘The Dog Stars’ received a C+ from opening night audiences on CinemaScore, a grade that further underscores just how difficult this release has proven at every stage.

That audience grade lines up with the film’s broader critical struggles heading into release. ‘The Dog Stars’ currently holds a 39 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, with left critics largely unimpressed despite a more favorable 70 percent audience score on the platform’s Popcornmeter, according to TheWrap.

The CinemaScore grade arrives alongside an already disappointing box office performance for the film. ‘The Dog Stars’ opened to an estimated $7 million domestically from 3,330 locations, a soft result for a film led by Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin and carrying a reported production budget as high as $110 million before marketing costs.

That combination of a middling CinemaScore and underwhelming ticket sales paints a challenging picture for the film’s path forward. CinemaScore grades have historically served as a useful predictor of how well a film will hold in subsequent weekends, since positive word of mouth tends to translate directly into stronger legs at the box office, something a C+ grade rarely delivers.

The film follows Hig, a former civilian pilot played by Elordi, navigating a post-apocalyptic world following a devastating flu pandemic, alongside Bangley, a hardened former Marine played by Brolin. Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, Allison Janney, and Benedict Wong round out the supporting cast in the adaptation of Peter Heller’s acclaimed 2012 novel.

For Scott, now 88 and still remarkably prolific behind the camera, this marks another challenging theatrical outing following a string of similarly underwhelming results for recent projects. Despite the rocky commercial reception, the veteran filmmaker shows no signs of slowing down, with multiple high-profile projects reportedly already moving through various stages of development.

Given the film’s steep production costs, a C+ CinemaScore combined with a soft opening weekend leaves ‘The Dog Stars’ with a genuinely uphill climb toward recouping its budget. Without stronger word of mouth to drive repeat viewership in the coming weeks, the film’s theatrical run may prove considerably shorter than its scale and cast would otherwise suggest.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!