Box Office The Dog Stars Bombs With 8 Million; Spider Man Continues Reign

Box Office Collisions: ‘The Dog Stars’ Faces Off Against Spider-Man

When a major cinematic release misses its financial targets, the immediate impulse in the industry often targets the filmmaker. Ridley Scott delivered an austere, deliberate post-apocalyptic survival drama featuring Jacob Elordi opposite Josh Brolin and Margaret Qualley, exactly as commissioned. Instead of finding a receptive market, the film collided with a crowded late-summer slate dominated by enduring blockbusters.

Variety notes that the film opened to just $8 million domestically over its opening weekend. Against a production cost reported north of $80 million—with some industry estimates climbing toward $110 million before marketing expenses—the feature is positioned to shed tens of millions of dollars during its theatrical run.

Critical and audience reception compounded those scheduling hurdles. The Dog Stars managed only a 40 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and a tepid C+ grade from CinemaScore polling, according to Variety. Analysts highlight that soft reviews are a known risk that robust marketing budgets are designed to counteract. However, studio scheduling decisions shifted the picture out of an initial spring release slot to avoid Project Hail Mary, placing it directly in the path of a Marvel juggernaut.

Sony’s Superhero Epic Maintains Its Grip on the North American Box Office

While 20th Century absorbed a heavy blow, Sony and Marvel continued a historic run at the top of the box office. Yahoo Entertainment reports that Spider-Man: Brand New Day secured the No. 1 position for the fifth weekend, adding $22.2 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales through Sunday.

The film stands on the verge of two major milestones: surpassing the $936 million domestic benchmark held by 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens to become the highest-grossing movie of all time in North America, and ultimately aiming to clear the historic $1 billion threshold domestically.

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‘Coyote vs. Acme’ Finds New Life After Shelving

In stark contrast to the studio misfire of The Dog Stars, the live-action-animation hybrid Coyote vs. Acme staged a theatrical rescue. After Warner Bros. abruptly canceled the completed project to claim a tax write-off, new distributor Ketchup Entertainment brought the film to screens, where it debuted in second place with an estimated $15.5 million over the weekend, according to Yahoo Entertainment.

The film, based on Ian Frazier’s Shouts and Murmurs New Yorker column and directed by Dave Green, depicts Wile E. Coyote taking the Acme Corporation to court over faulty products. It stars Will Forte, John Cena, Lana Condor, and Eric Bauza. Despite early corporate shelving alongside unreleased titles like Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt, the feature earned an A CinemaScore and a 95 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

‘Coyote vs. Acme’ is finally, gloriously, in theaters now,” Green said on social media Friday. “Which means one thing. WE WON.

Dave Green

That opening weekend marked the largest debut in history for indie distributor Ketchup Entertainment, outstripping its previous high set in 2024 by The Day the Earth Blew Up, according to Yahoo Entertainment. Box office analysts note that solid reviews and strong audience response should secure healthy ancillary and children’s viewing revenues to help recoup acquisition costs.

Studio Balance Sheets and Summer Blockbuster Outcomes

The weekend’s results underscore a volatile season for major Hollywood studios. For Disney, The Dog Stars caps a summer marked by both massive highs and steep misfires. While the studio generated substantial returns with Toy Story 5 at $1.12 billion and The Devil Wears Prada 2 at $692 million, it also absorbed losses on the live-action Moana and The Mandalorian and Grogu, as detailed by Variety.

Elsewhere on the domestic chart, Universal’s historical epic The Odyssey pulled in $14.3 million in its seventh weekend to claim third place, bringing its domestic total to $563.8 million alongside strong international collections totaling $1.55 billion globally. Meanwhile, Sony’s horror sequel Insidious: Out of the Further secured fourth place with $10.1 million in its sophomore frame, lifting its domestic revenues to $43 million against an 18-million-dollar production budget.